


All it cost her

by Morrighana



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Decisions, Emotions, F/F, F/M, Family, Fear, Friendship, Magic, Marriage Proposal, Pain, Pregnancy, Relationship(s), Secrets, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2020-12-09 04:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 29,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20988533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morrighana/pseuds/Morrighana
Summary: Zelda’s life just started to establish. Everything seemed to go smoothly...until one day, when it all started to fall down.





	1. Here we are

Zelda was having quite a busy day at the Spellman mortuary. Ambrose was at the academy so she had to manage everything herself. And she had to finish it until the evening because Faustus had asked her to come to his office at the academy. He didn’t tell what it was about, only that it was important. 

So here she was standing next to headmaster’s door ready to knock when she heard father Blackwood’s voice, ”Come in, Darling!”

Zelda was surprised but she put herself together quickly, opened the door and came in. 

”I hope I am not interrupting” she said, not really caring about it. 

”Of course not, come in and sit down” Faustus’s voice was a bit unconfident, as if he was nervous. 

”What was that you wanted to talk about?” Zelda was getting more and more curious every passing second. She wanted to know, what was the thing that made the High priest so nervous. 

“It’s just... I don’t know where to start. Well... Many years ago when we were at the academy I... loved you. I even wanted to marry you. So I asked your brother Edward for your hand in marriage. He said that you were too young for that and the age gap between us was too big. But I think it wasn’t the real reason why he denied. I think he was afraid that I would become a better candidate to be the next High priest. He told me to find someone more fitting but I never stopped thinking about you. You are the only one I want to spend my life with. I love you. And now that Edward is gone I want to ask you this question. Zelda Phiona Spellman, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

“Oh, Faustus! I wasn’t ready for that. I don’t really know, what love is but I know that I want to be with you for the whole eternity. So I accept your proposal.”

Faustus came closer to Zelda and kissed her. She kissed him back. Faustus leaned back for a moment. 

“We must celebrate this. What would you say about a trip to Paris?” he asked moving his lips closer to Zelda’s. 

“I would love that. But now we should go to your house” she sighed.

When Zelda came back home the sun was already rising. Everyone was sleeping. She tried to sneak into her room without making much noise. When Zelda got into her room and was ready to change into her nightwear, she heard a quiet knock on the door. Before she could manage to say something, Hilda was standing at the door. “Where have you been all night? We were all worried.” Woman said with a concern in her voice. 

While making her way home, Zelda decided that she would not tell anyone about her engagement before it is all settled. She didn’t want to make a fuss out of it. And knowing her family they would totally do that. But that moment she suddenly felt the need to tell her little sister about everything. 

“Well... You know that the High priest and I have been seeing each other for some time? So, he wanted to talk to me and I went to his office at the academy.” She stopped talking for a while. 

Hilda interrupted the silence “So... What did he want to talk about?” She didn’t want to irritate her older sister but her curiosity was at a peak.

“He said he loved me, he... he proposed.” Zelda’s emotions were on the edge. She seemed to be making every effort not to start crying.

Hilda looked at her questioningly. 

“And I accepted it” Zelda said, knowing what her sister’s question was. “We are going to Paris in three days to celebrate the engagement. We have yet to discuss the details of the wedding but we were thinking about the middle of November.”

“That’s great, my congratulations to you, sister!” Hilda said, certainly delighted by the news.

Next two days Zelda spent thinking about the trip. It didn’t take long to pack her suitcase as she wanted to take only the most necessary things. After all, they were not going to stay there for long.

Zelda was very excited about the forthcoming events. She asked Hilda not to tell anyone, not sure that she would be able to manage that, but surprisingly her little sister has kept her mouth shut. At least for now. Zelda told the others that she was going on a trip to Paris to meet her old friend and take a rest of them lot.

On Friday evening Zelda teleported herself to the hall of the academy. All students were already in beds. Faustus was waiting for her there. He walked closer to his love and hugged her as soon as she arrived. Then they were ready to leave. Faustus’s car was outside with a driver inside of it. He got out and helped Faustus to put their luggage in the trunk while Zelda was getting in the car. When they were all in the car the chauffeur started driving.


	2. When it all falls down

It took them around eight hours to get to the rented flat in Paris. They didn’t want to spoil all the joy of travelling by teleporting, so they took a flight. 

“I am so tired” Zelda complained when they both got into the flat. 

“Should we get some sleep then?” 

“Not yet” the said rather mysteriously. She walked closer to Faustus, as close as it was possible, kissed him and then started to unbutton his shirt. She carefully took off his shirt. Then the warlock started to unzip Zeldas dress. When both of them were finally naked, they lay down on the bed. The couple spent the night making each other suffer in exquisite ecstasy. 

When Zelda woke up in the morning she looked at Faustus and found out that he was still sleeping. The woman didn’t want to disturb his sleep, so she got up as quietly as she could and made her way to the kitchen. While Zelda was making coffee for herself Faustus walked into the kitchen. Zelda didn’t notice his at first. 

“Oh, you are awake, too!” she was rather surprised to see him as it was still early“Do you fancy a cup of coffee?”

“I would love that. How was your sleep last night?”

“It is always good when you are sleeping next to me”

“Oh, that is very flattering. What do you want to do today? I suggest that we go out and see some of the city. What do you think?”

“That is a great idea! I have always wanted to see the Eiffel tower in real life.” Zelda was very excited about seeing the city.

“And we could have dinner in some nice restaurant. One of my colleagues suggested one right in front of the tower.”

After drinking their coffee they changed and went outside. Zelda came up with an idea to walk through the small city streets and Faustus agreed to that. They were walking for twenty minutes, then thirty, and then a few hours... Time passed really fast, neither of them noticed it. But when they were both hungry and finally decided to go to the restaurant they suddenly realised that they have got lost. Zelda tried to remember where they came from and Faustus tried to find their location on a map, but it was all in vain.

Fortunately, there was a young woman passing by. Faustus’s face immediately changed, he went from confused and entirely lost to affable and confident. He cleared his throat and asked the stranger “Excuse me! Do you speak english?”

“Yes, of course I do! How can I help you?”

“Emm...It is quite embarrasing. But I have to admit that we have got lost. I tried to find the way on this map but it seems that I am not as good at it as I thought. So...Could you tell me how to get to the Eiffel tower?”

Zelda did not mind him talking to a stranger at first, but as he kept talking more and more it started to be annoying. Faustus’s was talking in a tone that in Zelda’s opinion was way too friendly. It even sounded as some kind of a flirt. She was getting jealous. Faustus was talking to that woman as if Zelda weren’t standing right next to him. 

“So you have to go along this street that way,” the woman pointed the direction behind Faustus’s back “and then you will have to turn to the left right behind the white hotel, then to the end of that street and to the right, then you will see the Eiffel tower. Will you remember all of that? Or should I repeat?” now she sounded insecure. 

“No, I think it should be all right. Thank you a lot! You are my saviour! Have a nice day!” Faustus was exalted and, when he said goodbye to the woman, the couple started to move in the pointed direction. 

‘My savior!?!’ Zelda thought, ‘what in the fucking hell was he thinking about, how dare he act in such a way!?!’ Zelda felt offended, humiliated but above all else she felt so angry as she has never felt before. But she didn’t say a word to him and didn’t express her emotions in any way. They kept heading forward in complete silence. 

They took all the turns the french lady told them to. After about ten minutes the witch and the warlock were standing in a wide area and could see the cultural icon with their own eyes. Zelda stood there in amazement and couldn’t take her eyes off it for a moment. There was the restaurant Faustus was talking about earlier to their left. He was already starving and wanted to get there faster. 

“Should we have a dinner, dear?” Faustus asked, trying not to sound too insistent. 

“Whatever you say” Zelda answered uninterestedly but with a hint of annoyance in her voice. 

“What’s the matter? You are being very quiet the past hour. I wonder if you are all right.” he was worried about his love but did not realise what was the reason of her weird behaviour. 

“I am perfectly fine. Thank you for your concern.” Zelda tried very hard to sound calm but inside she was just raging. She remained strong not to let out her emotions. 

“Well... As you say” Faustus wasn’t sure that it was true but he did not want to question her more. So he just gave up and walked in the direction of the restaurant. 

When they got inside Faustus asked for a table next to a window. They sat down and ordered some food. It was prepared quite quickly so they didn’t have to talk much. They finished their meal, it was already evening so they walked towards the house. 

As soon as they were in their room Zelda walked into the bathroom. She spent quite a long time there. Almost forty minutes later she came out. Faustus was already waiting for her next to the door but she just walked past not even looking at him. She got into bed and was ready for sleep. 


	3. Broken dreams

* * *

“What is the matter with you, Zelda?! You have been acting so weird all day.” Faustus was getting impatient. But he was worried about his future wife. 

“Just leave me alone, Faustus.” she said calmly. 

“No! I want you to tell me what the unholy hell happened! Have I done anything wrong? I don’t understand.” 

“You liked that girl, didn’t you?! I admit, she was quite charming.” Zelda wad furious. 

“What girl? I don’t understand what you are talking about.” 

“The girl who told you the way when we got lost. You were flirting with her all the while you two were talking. She was just in your taste, isn’t that right? Young, beautiful and, as it turns out, also clever.”

“Do you even hear yourself? That is a complete nonsense. I was just being polite to her. After all we needed to find the right way. We wouldn’t have been able to do that in our own.”

“Being polite? Is that how you call it? Because what I think is that you couldn’t take your eyes off of her and stop talking. That was far beyond being polite.”

“It was nothing like that. I can assure you.”

“I don’t need to be assured. I saw everything myself. You can go to your french lady and continue being polite or find another one if you want to.”

“You are the only one I have ever wanted. And you know that. I want to be with you.”

“Oh, really? So you are telling me that you have never had anyone else? It is hard to believe. Don’t you think?”

“All right, there was one other woman some years ago. But that is all.”

“And when exactly was it?” Zelda was curious now. 

“When you were in London, attending a seminar or something.”

“But when I came back you told me you have been waiting for me. So you lied to me. You didn’t even bother to tell me all these years. What else have you lied about, huh?”

“I don’t believe you! You are a liar! How do you expect me to trust you ever again? Our whole relationship is based on lies.”

“That’s not true. Zelda, please, listen to me...”

“No! I don’t want to hear more lies. I am leaving! Right now! And there will be no wedding. Not in a week and not ever.”

The witch whispered a spell and her belongings were packed in her suitcase quickly. She walked out the door, Faustus tried to stop her but she already teleported herself away. 

Faustus was alone in the room and he felt so much regret. How could he be so foolish and behave in such a way in front of another woman. And he shouldn’t have said about his affair. Not in such circumstances. 

Zelda was standing on the pavement next to the house. She didn’t know what to do. She felt betrayed and was alone in foreign country. The witch had some money with her so she could buy herself a ticket back. But before that she had to find somewhere to stay so she caught a cab and got to the nearest hotel to the airport. When she got into her small room she bought a plane ticket for six o’clock in the morning and went to bed not even undressing. 

At four she was already at the airport, successfully got through the security control and boarded the plane. All the way home Zelda was thinking what to tell the others. She decided to tell that everything went fine. There was no need to worry them. 

So when the woman finally got home she tried to look as neutral as it was possible. 

“Aunt Zelda, you are back!” Sabrina was very excited to see her. She ran closer and gave her a tight hug. “How was your journey? We all missed you so much!”

“It was good. But don’t be so dramatic. I was away just for a few days. Now if you will excuse me I would like to go to my room.” she was tired after all events. 

“Of course, auntie, have a rest.”

When Zelda got into her room she didn’t want to unpack her things, she just lay on her bed and looked at the ceiling. Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. Hilda came in and sat next to Zelda on her bed. 

“So? How was it?” the little sister was definitely dying to hear everything about it. 

Zelda could no longer hold her emotions inside. She started sobbing unwillingly, tears started rolling down her cheeks. “We broke up, he lied to me and... and had other women...”

Hilda put her arms around her sister. She felt really sorry for her. Zelda didn’t resist so they sat like that until she had calmed down a little. 

“What will you do now? Did you come here alone?” Hilda asked carefully not wanting to upset her even more. 

“I don’t know what to do now. I think he stayed in France. But I cannot be sure. Hilda, how am I supposed to get through this? I still love him but I can’t trust him, not ever.”

“I am not an expert but I think you should give it some time. It will get easier. But now you have your family, I will always be by your side.”

“Thank you, Hilda! I appreciate it, really.” Hilda walked out of the room and left her sister alone so she could get some rest. 

Zelda was tired but she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept thinking about Faustus for hours. When she was finally asleep she kept seeing him in her dreams.


	4. Awakening

The following day Zelda spent in her room. She didn’t want to see anyone or talk, she didn’t even go downstairs to have something to eat. The witch was drowning in her own sorrow and could not think of anything else.

Hilda had told the others that Zelda wasn’t feeling well after her journey. They were surprised but didn’t say a thing. 

A week passed and Zelda already felt better, she spent time with her family, worked at the mortuary and did other things that she used to. But she was still thinking about him all the time, he was still in her dreams. She couldn’t do anything about it. Zelda had overheard that he got back from Paris but tried not to think about him being so close to her. 

One more week passed and Zelda had almost recovered from all upsetting events. Sabrina and Ambrose were at the Academy and Hilda was at work so the woman was alone in the Spellman house. She made herself some tea as she wasn’t feeling very well, sat in the living room and started reading a book. Zelda enjoyed the silence in the house, her family was usually making quite a lot of noise. She could relax at last. 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Zelda was rather surprised, she couldn’t remember asking anyone to come and she didn’t have an appointment. She walked towards the door and opened it. A woman was standing there, she was a very good friend of Zelda’s, her name was Morgana. She was dressed in black as she usually did. That was just one of many things that the two witches had in common. Zelda has always been jealous of how young she looked though she was older than her. She was the most elegant person Zelda has ever known. 

“Hello, I hope I am not interrupting!” she said not really concerned about that. 

“Of course not! I am very happy to see you! But what are you doing here? You don’t usually show up in the middle of a day.”

“We haven’t met in quite a long time and I thought I could visit you and see how you are doing while no-one is at home. You don’t look very well.” there was a sound of concern in her voice. 

“Oh, that’s nothing. Come in, I will make you some tea.”

Morgana was sitting on the sofa, Zelda put a tea cup on the table in front of her and sat next to her friend. 

Morgana felt something strange about Zelda, something had changed but she couldn’t figure out what exactly. She kept looking at Zelda. 

“What is it?”

Then she looked at Zelda’s stomach and finally understood what was making her feel that way. 

“You are pregnant! My congratulations to you!” she said rather excited. 

“What?! What the unholy hell are you talking about? I can’t be... pregnant.”

“Oh my... you didn’t know? I am so sorry, that was quite indelicate of me.” she felt sorry for bursting it out in such way. 

“But how do you know it? Why are you so sure of that?” she was in shock and couldn’t believe what the other woman was saying. 

“I just feel it. I always feel when a woman is carrying a child. But I can check it one more time if you want me to.” 

“Please, do it!” 

“You will have to lie down then” she got up from the sofa and Zelda lay down on it. 

The witch put both her hands on Zelda’s stomach and started whispering a spell. She sat like that for a few minutes, then said: “You are definitely pregnant. I am sure of that. I is around two weeks now.”

Zelda was silent. It took several moments for her to realise what had just happened. 

“What should I do now?”

“I hope you are not going to get rid if it?”

“No, no, I wouldn’t do that. But I don’t know how to get through it all. I can’t tell anyone, at least not yet. And I can’t tell Faustus. He will want to come back, I can’t let that happen.“

“Well then. We will have to keep it a secret from everyone. I will help you as much as I can.”

“Can you stay here? I could find you a room”

“I don’t know...”

“Of course, that was a stupid question, you have your own life and...”

“No, it’s not that. I just thought about your family. Wouldn’t they suspect anything?”

“I will tell them that you came here from England and I offered you to stay at our house until you have settled in. With your accent that won’t be a problem”

“All right then. I will need some of my things.”

“Thank you a lot! You are the best!”

“So does that mean I am your midwife now?”

“Well... I would ask Hilda but you know her. She will tell everyone the moment she finds out. So, could you do that?”

“I will. After all I am one of the most highly qualified midwives in the world and I want you to have the best care possible. We will have to think about the plan, when to do the checkups and that stuff. But now I will go”

Morgana left and returned a bit later with some of her belongings. She took some herbs that might be useful. Zelda gave her the room next to hers. When the other Spellmans returned home they told the story and they seemed to be taken in. Zelda was very tired, all the sudden news had worn her out and she went to bed early. 


	5. See what it takes

Zelda woke up when the sun hasn’t even risen yet. Everyone was still sleeping. She sat in her bed and suddenly felt nauseous. She ran to the bathroom, sat on the floor next to the toilet and vomited. 

She didn’t notice how Morgana walked in. She closed the door behind her and sat next to Zelda.

“You shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you to see this. It is disgusting.”

“Don’t worry, I have seen a lot of vomiting through the years.”

Zelda vomited again. Morgana held her hair. When Zelda had finished, she started crying. Morgana came closer and hugged her. 

“What’s wrong, dear? That wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“I don’t know. I just...”

“It will be fine” the witch whispered and stroked Zelda’s head. They stayed there for a while. 

“We should go” Morgana suggested. 

“Yes, we should” Zelda stood up and walked to the sink to wash her face. 

“You can go to your room and change, then come down to the kitchen. I will make you some tea that should help.”

Zelda went to her room, opened her closet and chose a black dress. She put it on, then stood in front of mirror and realised that soon she will have to buy new clothes because these won’t fit her anymore. She found the thought upsetting but then she pulled herself together and went downstairs to the kitchen. 

Morgana was already making the tea. She had some bags of herbs that Zelda couldn’t identify, mixed a bit of each together in a cup and poured boiling water. 

“It will be ready in ten minutes, then you can drink it. I must admit that it tastes awfully but it is effective so you will have to get used to it. You will not feel nauseous anymore.”

“If you say so...” Zelda wasn’t sure, it smelled really bad but she trusted her friend and decided not to argue. 

Morgana muttered a spell so no-one could overhear their conversation. 

“We will need to do the checkups. I think once a week must do. But if you feel unwell just tell me even if you think it is nothing, don’t dare to think that you will be bothering me because it is not true.”

“I just don’t want to be a nuisance”

“You won’t be, I am here to look after you. It is my job now. So, let’s continue. I might be able to hear baby’s heartbeat on tenth week or earlier, find out the gender around thirteenth week, is that all right?”

“That’s quite soon, isn’t it? I thought the heartbeat would be audible on fifteenth week or so.”

“My methods are a bit different, that’s why I can do that sooner than others.”

“On which days will the checkups be? And should we do that in my room or go to the basement?”

“I think Thursdays would be great if it suits you, then everybody will be gone but I don’t think you will feel comfortable in the basement so I can go to your room or just come to mine. You can choose.”

“Let it be your room then.”

“Then it is settled. You can come to my room when you wake up, whenever that is. I don’t sleep much anyway.”

“What do you want to do today? It is quite boring in this house.”

“I need to contact one of my apprentices. Then I could go to the town centre, take a look at some magic items. Would you like to come with me?”

“If I feel better” Zelda started drinking her tea. It was worse than she imagined but she drank it all. After a few minutes she noticed that the nausea had gone away. 

A bit later the two witches went out, they walked all the way to the town centre. Morgana liked shopping so they had to go in almost every store. She just couldn’t go by the bookstore, they spent quite a long time there. The witch was very interested in books of the magic section. After thirty minutes of wandering around the shelves she finally chose tree books and bought them. Luckily for Zelda there was no shop with magical items because she was getting tired of all this walking. Morgana noticed that. 

“Are you tired? Maybe we should go back? I don’t want to exhaust you.”

“It is a good idea. In fact I feel a bit tired.” Zelda hated to admit her weakness but it was for her child’s sake, so she had no choice but surrender. As soon as they got home Zelda walked straight to the living room, lay on the sofa to rest. Morgana walked in to offer some tea but Zelda was already sleeping. The witch whispered a spell to teleport Zelda to her bedroom. Morgana sat next to her for a while. She smiled when thought about the little life that this witch was carrying inside of her. Then she got up very carefully, trying not to disturb her sleep and went to her bedroom. 


	6. All it takes

The following days everything went well. Zelda kept drinking her tea and there was no nausea. Somehow that felt encouraging for her. 

On Thursday morning Zelda woke up and she felt very well. She had a good night’s sleep. It was already past ten. The sun was shining outside her window. Her family had gotten away a few hours ago. She has never slept for so long. That must be one of the effects of the tea she was drinking. Or was it the pregnancy?

She got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face. Zelda was nervous about her first appointment, she has been a midwife for a long time but she never imagined, how it is to be pregnant herself. After so many years of practice she didn’t know what to do, she felt lost and afraid of the unknown. So she had to completely rely on her friend though she has never seen her working. 

When Zelda finally took courage and walked to Morgana’s room she was already waiting for her. Zelda knocked on the door and heard an immediate response: “Come in, darling.”

She walked in rather hesitantly. 

“Come, sit down” Morgana was standing next to her bed and pointed at it “How are you feeling today? You look a bit nervous.”

“I feel well, I just haven’t done this before. In fact, I have never been in this... condition. I am not sure how to feel about it yet.”

“It will be fine, you will get used to it. And don’t forget that I am taking care of you. You have nothing to be afraid of. Now, if you don’t mind, I will run some tests. It won’t be long, I promise.”

“What should I do?”

“Just lay down on the bed and I will do the rest.”

Zelda did as she said and Morgana started to examine her. She used some magical items. In fifteen minutes it was all done. 

“Baby is fine and at the moment there is no reason for me to concern about your health. Everything is going as it should.”

When she said that, Zelda felt relieved. It was only now that she understood how much she wanted that child and loved it already. 

“Do you think I am strong enough to do this?”

“You are one of the strongest people I have ever met and I think it shouldn’t be too hard for you. But you still have to do as I recommend and rest more.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard as you are saying it.”

Now Zelda felt much better, she had faith in herself and was ready for everything.”

A couple of weeks had passed. One day Hilda offered to have a dinner all family together. Zelda tried to refuse but in the end she had to agree. So they were sitting at the table and eating the meal that Hilda had cooked. Morgana had some meeting and was gone for the night. They ate their food in silence. When it was finished, they started talking about how they spent the day. Sabrina told about her studies at the academy, Hilda told about her work and boss that she liked, Ambrose talked about his boyfriend. They expected Zelda to tell about her day but she couldn’t tell them that Morgana was running some tests to find out if the baby is fine, drank the tea to stop the nausea and slept half of the day because she felt very tired. 

“I didn’t do anything much, just some stuff at home, had a walk, tried some new spells, there wasn’t much work at the mortuary.” it sounded like her usual day and everyone seemed to believe it. 

“Well then. I am going to have a drink. Do you want one, too, aunt Zelda?” Ambrose asked. Zelda had forgotten that she can’t drink. Now she had to think of a good reason to refuse and had to do it quickly as her nephew was waiting for an answer. 

“Maybe another time. I wanted to go through some spells tonight and I need to concentrate.” Zelda made a slightly apologetic expression. 

“It seems that I will be drinking alone. Again...”

Zelda went to her room, closed the door and sat on her bed. She was relieved that no-one suspected anything and put her hand on her stomach not even noticing that. Then she realised what she did but didn’t take it off. 

“I will have to tell them eventually but not now.”

She had to be more careful and try to do everything as always. 

Zelda sat there for a while, stroking her belly and thinking about the future. She new that she would start showing soon but she didn’t want to tell anyone before it happens. Morgana told her earlier that she had started to behave differenlty, she was more emotional now and had mood swings more often than ever. But she couldn’t let the others notice that. 

Later she went to the shower and then to her bed. She couldn’t fall asleep for some time because of the problems that were bothering her. When she finally did, her sleep was so tight that nothing would wake her up. 


	7. Beating heart

Zelda was on her ninth week of pregnancy. That morning she woke up early, everyone was still in the house. She walked towards the window and looked at their garden and graveyard. It was starting to get light outside, the sun was supposed to rise soon. She stood by the window until the first rays of sunshine began to show. Then the witch sat back on her bed. She suddenly felt lonely and needed someones company. She decided to go to Morgana’s room and see if she is sleeping. Zelda got out of her room and quietly went to the other room. When she opened the door she saw that Morgana wasn’t sleeping, she was writing something in her notebook.

“Zelda? What are you doing here? You should be sleeping.” she sounded concerned. 

“I woke up early, tried to fall asleep again but I couldn’t. I thought you were sleeping and didn’t want to disturb. But then it started to feel weird being in that room alone and I came here.”

“Come here” she pointed on the bed next to her. 

Zelda sat in the bed and Morgana hugged her. For some strange reason it was exactly what Zelda needed that moment. It made her feel better and safer.

“I can feel that you are worried about something. Tell me, what is it?” Morgana has always known her better than she did herself. 

“I was just thinking... I know it is only nine weeks but maybe you could hear the baby’s heartbeat already? I know it is not Thursday but still.”

“I can check it if that’s what you want.”

“I would appreciate that.”

“Lie down then and take the nightgown off of your belly, please.”

Zelda did that and Morgana could start. It took some time but it was worth it. 

“You were right. Here it is, a strong heartbeat.” she announced. 

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

“Dear Lord, I am so happy!” Zelda couldn’t hold back her smile. She put both of her hands on her stomach. Seeing her happiness Morgana smiled, too. Zelda placed her nightgown back as it was before and sat. 

“It so wonderful, carrying a child. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

“Can I stay here for a bit longer?”

“Of course you can. Do you want another hug?”

“Yes” then Morgana hugged her again and it felt even better than the first time. 

“Maybe you should try to fall asleep again? You can get into my bed. I won’t mind.”

“Maybe I should” she stood up, the other woman held the blanket, so she could get under it. When Zelda had settled down, she sat next to her and started stroking her head. It didn’t take long for Zelda to fall asleep. Morgana left her alone. When she came back later she saw that Zelda had put one hand on her belly. She thought that it was cute, how protective her friend was even in her sleep. 

Zelda woke up a bit later. When she opened her eyes she saw that Morgana was still sitting next to her. 

“Were you sitting here all the time while I was asleep?”

“No, I left for some time and returned just a few minutes ago. Do you feel better? Maybe you want something? I can bring you some food.”

“No, it is fine. I was going to go downstairs myself, anyway. But thank you.”

“If that’s what you want. Hilda made some muffins. Sabrina ate almost all of them, but I saved some for you. There are also some pancakes.”

“Did they ask anything about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean... did they ask about me acting weird or something? Maybe you heard them talking.”

“No, nothing like that. Ambrose was once talking about you being tired. But he came to conclusion that it is because of work and all the problems with Sabrina and others. So, I don’t think they suspect anything.”

“That’s good. They shouldn’t find out. I will tell them, eventually. But not now.”

Zelda stood up and went to her room. She chose a dress for today, took off the nightgown and looked at herself in the mirror. She noticed a slight bump, it made her smile. It meant that her baby was growing. It also meant that her family will notice it soon enough. But she didn’t want to worry about it before the time. The witch dressed up and went to the kitchen. She felt the smell of muffins and only then realised that she was hungry. She sat by the table and started eating. Tears appeared in her eyes, and the other woman noticed that. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it is just very tasty.” the tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Are you sure that’s the matter?”

“They will find out soon,” she was already sobbing “I can already see a little bump, and they will see it too. I won’t be able to hide it for much longer.”

Morgana stood up from her seat and walked closer to Zelda. 

“Let me see”

Zelda turned to the witch, so she could see her stomach.

“It is still too small for them to notice. I will let you know when it starts to be obvious. Don’t worry about it now, just eat your muffins before Sabrina comes home.”

“Could you ask Hilda to make more of these. It would sound strange if I did that. But I they are so good.”

“All right, I will ask her.”


	8. Miles away

The Spellmans were having a dinner together. Morgana joined them too. They were discussing different things. 

“Have you heard of father Blackwood’s plans about the new reform in the Church of Night.” Sabrina asked the others.

“No, what is he planning now?” Hilda wanted to know. 

“He wants to limit witches’ rights again. The warlocks will have total control over us. He will ask the Anti-pope to come here and show his plan. The Anti-pope will almost certainly approve that. He will have no reason not to and he usually agrees to everything what is offered to him, so he wouldn’t have to spend more time on it.” Sabrina was complaining. 

Zelda just sat there in silence. She didn’t want to talk about him. Faustus had broken her heart first, now he was ruining all witches’ lives. Everyone will talk about it now, and she won’t be able to forget about him even for a moment. She just couldn’t believe that this asshole was the man she once fell in love with. 

When Zelda was in her room Morgana came in. 

“Sorry for disturbing but I need to talk. I have to meet someone and I am leaving tomorrow morning.”

“But tomorrow is Thursday. How about the checkup?”

“Don’t worry, I will be back in a few days. Everything is going to be fine until then. I am sure you can manage a couple of days without me. We will do the checkup when I am back.”

“Why is there such a hurry? Do you really have to go tomorrow?”

“I am very sorry but I have to. It is important, trust me.”

“Well... good luck then. I suppose.”

Morgana walked out the room, leaving Zelda very confused. She couldn’t understand why it was so urgent but there was nothing she could do about it. Morgana had already decided. 

Early in the morning Morgana had already packed a small bag. She didn’t need anything much. She wore the most beautiful dress she had and teleported. She appeared in a small room. There was a man sitting behind a desk.

“How can I help you, miss?” he wasn’t surprised about her arrival.

“Tell your lord that Morgana wants to see him.”

The man stood up, opened a door to the next room and got inside. Some moments later he came back. 

“His Unholiness is awaiting.”

Morgana walked in a huge room, the Anti-pope was sitting there, excited to see her. 

“To what do I owe this honour, Morgana Desrosiers? You haven’t been here for a long time. I missed you.”

“I know you did, and I did too. But now I am here.” her tone was flirty, she walked closer to him.

“And what has brought you so far?”

“I have a problem and I thought you could help me solve it.”

“I am listening.”

“You remember father Blackwood, don’t you?”

“One of the High Priests, is that right?”

“Yes. I have to report that his Excellency is using his post as a High Priest for his personal interests. He is going to deprive the witches of his coven of their rights, he wants to make them his property.”

“Well... I wouldn’t say that it is the right way to manage things in his coven. What do you want me to do. Talk to him?”

“Oh, dear, of course not. I want you to dismiss him from his post.”

“Why would I do that?”

“May I remind you of your secret that I so kindly agreed to keep. You don’t want me to tell anyone, do you? It will ruin your career, so, I suggest you do what I say.”

“You know how to convince, I will give you that.”

“Send a message to Faustus Blackwood immediately. And here is the name of the next High Priest of the Church of Night.”

She gave him a small piece of paper. The Anti-pope opened it and read the name.

“Seems like a good choice. Let it be so. I will send one of my priests to Blackwood. He will no longer be the High Priest by tomorrow morning. There are some papers that need to be signed but it is just a formality.”

“Thank you, your Disgrace. I will leave you to your duties now. But if you start to miss me ever again, you can ask me to visit you. I am sure I would be able to find some free time to come to you.”

Morgana finished talking, turned around and walked out of the room. The Anti-pope was impressed by her vulgarity, for some reason he liked it. 

Morgana stayed in Vatican for some time. In the middle of the following day she returned to the Spellman house. She teleported straight to her room. Zelda rushed in before she could but her bag down. 

“Have you heard? The Anti-pope dismissed Blackwood. Now father Renaud is the new High Priest. How did that even happen?”

“I have known the Anti-pope for years. I asked him a little favour. Father Renaud is a great warlock and I will make sure that he doesn’t make the same mistake as Blackwood.”

“You did it? You asked to dismiss him and put that guy in his place? How did you manage to do that?”

“His Disgrace owed me. I couldn’t let Faustus ruin all of your lives. And he hurt you, after all. He deserved it, now he will be nothing and no-one will listen to his opinion ever again.”

“So, you went all the way to the Vatican and convinced his Unholiness to get rid of him, for me?”

“And for the other witches too. But mostly, for you, yes.”

“I can’t believe it! You are such a good friend. I don’t have words to express, how grateful I am. Thank you!”

Zelda was still shocked by all the events, she hugged her friend very tightly.

“Could we do the checkup tomorrow. I amreally tired.”

“Of course, I feel well anyway. So, there is no hurry. Have a rest.”

She went away and left Morgana alone in her room. 


	9. The look

Next morning Zelda got ready and went to the kitchen. Morgana was already there, the others were still in their rooms.

“The High Priest is organising a meeting. He wants to introduce himself and see his new coven. He asked a representative of each family to come. And I thought that you would want to represent the Spellman family.”

“If it is so necessary”

“Good morning, aunties! What are you talking about?” Morgana had told her several times not to call her that way. But she never listens, she just has to get used to that.

“We were talking about the meeting that father Renaud is organising. Zelda will represent your family.”

“I could do that. Don’t you think I am ready for such things?”

“Of course you could, but it will be boring, his Excellency will just talk about himself and his plans.” Zelda tried to make her niece lose her interest.

“Next time, then.”

“That’s the right decision, Sabrina.” Zelda was relieved. 

“So, when is it?” Sabrina wanted to everything.

“Tonight, at six o’clock. I suppose you will be out with your friends.” Morgana could easily talk to the teenager, they were having some casual conversations all the time.

“Maybe. Will you go too?”

“Of course I will. As the last living member of my family.”

“What happened to the others?”

“What do you think? They died.”

“Sabrina, stop being so disrespectful!” Zelda couldn’t allow her to act like that. 

“It’s all right, Zelda.”

Later, when the two of them were ready, they were standing in the front hall. They had to go earlier because they had to get to the Church on foot. Teleporting was making Zelda dizzy these days.

“Do we really have to go?”

“Of course we do. You are a Spellman, you represent one of the most respectable families in this coven. Everyone would notice if you didn’t come.”

“Fine, let’s go before we are late.”

They arrived right in time, almost everyone was there. In a few minutes the High Priest appeared, all the guests fell silent. He gave a speech. It wasn’t very long, just something about him, his plans for the foreseeable future. After he finished, the guests could have a glass of champagne. Father Renaud was walking around the room, some witches and warlocks were asking him questions. Morgana and Zelda were standing on the other side of the room and chatting about something. Renaud walked closer to them. 

“Morgana, how nice to see you again.”

“I am glad to see you too, Alister.”

“And you are?” he turned to Zelda. 

“Zelda Spellman, your Excellency.”

“Spellman, of course. I have heard so much about your family.” he turned to Morgana again “Maybe we could go to my office. There are some things I would like ti discuss.”

“Then sister Zelda should come too.”

“If you are sure.”

The three of them went to his office, he closed the door behind them.

“I would like to know what exactly was the reason to dismiss father Blackwood.”

“First of all, he used his power in his own interest. But most importantly, he hurt my friend. I couldn’t allow such person to lead this coven.”

“That’s what I thought. You did it. And I suppose, you were the one who chose me.”

“That is pretty accurate, yes. I think you are the best candidate for this job. Well... after me of course. So, don’t disappoint me.”

“I will try not to. And thank you, I owe you now.”

“Yes, you do.”

“You are a sister of Edward Spellman, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. Did you know him?”

“We met a few times. He was a great man. You remind me of him. He had a little daughter, right? How is she doing?”

“Sabrina is fine, she is becoming more and more like her father. Sometimes that’s terrifying, but she is a sweet girl, just very stubborn.”

“Send her my best wishes. And good luck to you.”

“Thank you!”

“Just the last thing... You are that friend who was hurt by Blackwood?”

“How did you know? Did someone tell you?”

“No, it is just the look in your eyes. You don’t like talking about him.”

“You are very attentive, your Excellency.”

The two witches walked out of the office. It was already time to get back home. On the way they were discussing the new Priest.

“Do you think he is suitable for this job?” Zelda wasn’t sure what to think about him.

“We will see about that. But I trust him and I think, if we help him, he will become a great leader for all of us.”

Zelda still wasn’t sure about him, maybe she just needed some time. But she was relieved that Faustus was no longer in charge. That thought calmed her down a little. 


	10. Living the dream

They were all sitting in the living room and drinking tea that Hilda had made. Zelda was on her third month. She bought some new dresses that covered her baby bump a little, at least, it wasn’t very obvious. She tried to keep out of the sight of her family members. Sometimes it was quite a hard thing to do. 

Her family was discussing plans for the Winter Solstice. Sabrina wanted to meet some of her mortal friends. Zelda didn’t approve that but she didn’t want to argue, either. That is why she just continued listening. Hilda was planning to spend the holidays with dr. Cerberus and Ambrose wanted to be with Luke. Neither Zelda nor Morgana had any plans. They would probably stay at home. Zelda was always too tired to go anywhere, so that suited her perfectly. 

Sabrina started to talk about her friend, how much she missed Harvey and others.

“I think I should spend more time with them.”

“I think that would be very nice.” Hilda as always approved her friendship with the mortals.

“Don’t forget about your studies at the Academy. They are very important. You shouldn’t let your friends distract you from studies. You could meet them when there is a free time.” Zelda has never liked her niece spending time with mortals, but putting them above her studies... that was too much.

“But I don’t want to lose them, auntie. What will I do without them?”

“If they are as good as you say, then they will be your friends, whatever happens. But if not, you can always find new friends. Preferably someone from the coven. I won’t handle another drama with your mortal boyfriends.”

“Really, aunt Zelda?”

“I am just saying.”

While they were all talking Morgana suddenly had an unusual feeling. It took some time to understand what it was.

“Zelda, I need your help with one thing. I need to hear your opinion. Could we go upstairs now, before I have forgotten.”

Zelda was slightly confused. She couldn’t understand what the other witch was talking about but agreed.

“All right, let’s go. But couldn’t you ask someone else? As you know, I am not the best advisor.”

“No, this time the one I need is you. So, don’t argue and go.”

“What is the matter?” Zelda whispered when they were going up the stairs.

“I will explain when we are in my room.”

As they walked into the room, Morgana closed the door and stood in front of Zelda. She couldn’t understand what was going on. 

“What is it? Can you just tell me? Is something wrong? Please, don’t be silent.”

“I think I felt something”

“What did you feel?”

“Can I?”

She pointed to Zelda’s stomach.

“Yes, but...”

“Shhh, quiet”

She put her hand on the witch’s belly. Zelda felt nervous but kept quiet. Morgana stood there, concentrating on her feelings. Then she smiled and looked at Zelda.

“It is a girl.”

“What, really? I thought it was too early to say that.”

“I did too. But when you were all talking downstairs I had this feeling. I just wanted to check.”

“How can you feel all of that? That’s incredible!”

“Just a talent, I suppose.”

“Actually there was one more thing I wanted to talk about.”

“What is it about?”

“Remember when I went to Vatican and stayed there for two days?”

“Of course I do. You made the Anti-pope choose another High Priest.”

“That didn’t take so long. I could have gotten back sooner but...” she hesitated for a moment “I stayed there because I met a witch. We started talking, and I liked her, she liked me. So we went to her house. And ended up in her bed. The next day I left but we kept in contact since then. The point is... She was there doing some business there the same as me. Now she will come back. Well... she is from Canada but her uncle lives nearby and she wants to move in his house. He is lonely, anyway, and we will be able to meet. What do you think about it?”

“I think it is wonderful! What is her name?”

“Julianna, she is amazing.”

“And when is she planning to come here?”

“If everything is all right then she will be here by next month.”

“You really like her, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. But I will still be looking up for you. Don’t think that my feelings for her will save you from me.”

“I wasn’t expecting less from you. Now, shall we go back downstairs? Before they start to worry.”

They went back to the living room and spent the rest of the evening with others. Zelda was very happy about the news that she was expecting a baby girl. At some point she even wanted to tell her family. But then she decided against it.


	11. The wounds of the past

There were a few days left before the Winter Solstice. The Spellmans were getting ready for the holiday. They started decorating their house. They really loved this time of the year but Morgana seemed not so fond of it. She tried not to get involved in all the preparations. The Spellmans respected that and never asked about the reason. 

Father Renaud was doing his duties well, everyone liked him and had no complaints. He was listening to suggestions of the members of the coven, tried to do things the way that would be acceptable for everyone.

It was a cold winter day but the sun was shining outside. Sabrina and Ambrose were at the Academy, Hilda had a day off, but she decided to spend it with dr. Cerberus. They seemed to be getting on well. Zelda didn’t like it but there was nothing she could really do so, she just let the things go their own way.

Zelda was working on the decorations. She wanted everything to be perfect, as always. She put the Yule log into the fireplace, so it was ready to be lit. It had to be lit through the longest night to protect them. Zelda was worried about it even more than other years because of her pregnancy. She wanted to protect her child from any danger.

Zelda was putting something in order in the living room when she accidentally pushed a vase off the shelf. She got scared, it happened very sudden and she wasn’t expecting that. She tried to pick up the pieces of the glass. Morgana came to the room as soon as she heard the noise. She helped her to pick them up.

“I will fix it.” Zelda said casually.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Using magic, obviously.”

“No, you can’t do this.”

“I can, it is not so hard, I can manage.”

“Listen to me, you shouldn’t use magic.”

“It is just a small spell. I am strong enough to do that. It won’t hurt.”

“But it may.”

“Stop telling me what I should or shouldn’t do.” she whispered a spell and the vase was fixed “It is my body after all. You think you are so clever. But why would I even listen to you? You have never been pregnant. How would you know what it feels like?”

“Because I have...”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“You know my reputation. They say that I have never lost a child. I am a perfect midwife. But it is not true, not exactly. I lost the first child. My own child and it was terrible. So, please, forgive me for not wanting the same happen to you. I was just trying to protect you.”

“I am terribly sorry! I didn’t know.”

“So you should be.”

Zelda started to feel a bit dizzy. Then it got worse. Suddenly the world around her turned dark, she couldn’t see anything.

“Zelda?”

The next moment she could feel how she was falling but couldn’t help it. Morgana caught her in her arms and put on the sofa carefully. Then she decided to teleport Zelda to her room because there she would be able to check everything properly. She was afraid that Zelda might have a miscarriage. She put the witch on the bed and changed her clothes with a snap of the fingers. Then she started to examine her. As it turned out, Zelda wasn’t going to lose the baby. But she was still in danger, so she put a sleeping spell on her. She needed to rest as long as it was possible.

It was past midnight when she woke up. The other Spellmans were staying overnight somewhere, so the house was still empty. Morgana was walking around the room nervously. Then she noticed that the other woman was awake.

“Praise Satan!” there was a sound of relief in her voice.

“How did I get here?”

“I brought you here after you lost you consciousness.”

“The baby! Is she all right?”

“There was a risk but now it is all right. You need to have a rest.”

Morgana was going to leave the room.

“What happened?” Morgana looked at her questioningly.

“I mean... When you were pregnant. You never told me that.”

“Well... There was a man, I loved him. At least I thought I did. We were meeting every night and having a wild sex. Then I found out I was pregnant and told him. He smiled and then kissed me. We were having a happy life. Until the day I lost my child.”

“And what then?”

“Everyone said that it was going to pass, I just had to give it some time. But the time passed and it didn’t get better. Everything reminded me if that and I left.”

“Now I understand why you are protecting me so...” she looked at her belly and then sighed.

“What is it?” Morgana felt a little confused.

“Come here. She is kicking.”

Morgana came closer and sat on the bed. Zelda took her hand and placed it on her bump. She could feel a little movement under her hand. That made her smile. Zelda couldn’t control her emotions and started crying out of happiness.

“You shouldn’t use magic anymore, for your daughter’s sake.”

“I won’t. And sorry for what I said before. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It is fine. It happened a long time ago.”

“Did it happen on the Winter Solstice?”

Morgana hesitated for a moment. 

“Yes, it did.”

Then she left the room, leaving Zelda alone. She put both her hands on her belly as the little one was kicking.


	12. Family time

In a few hours Morgana came back to the room to see if everything was all right. Zelda had just woken up.

“I should go to my room. You are probably tired.”

“Stay here. I won’t sleep anyway. So, what difference would it make?”

“Then at least sit here with me.”

Morgana walked closer to bed and sat down. Zelda sat in the bed and put her head on Morgana’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to lose her.”

“I know. But it won’t happen, she is a strong girl, the same as you, and I will not let anything bad happen to both of you.”

“Why are you doing this? You took care of me and my child, didn’t leave after all I did.”

“I guess, that’s what friends do.”

“Not all friends. You are different.”

“Maybe that’s because you are my closest friend, we have been through a lot and you are like a family to me.”

“But you have other friends too.”

“They don’t mean so much to me.” Zelda put her hand on her belly “Is she kicking again?”

“Yes, I think she likes your voice.”

“Of course she does.” Morgana chuckled and stroked Zelda’s head with her hand.

“I am sometimes wondering, how would it be if my child survived. I imagine us being a happy family, playing and all of that. It would be such a good life. I even envy you a bit.”

“Was it a boy or a girl?”

“I don’t know. It was too small. Maybe that was for the best, it doesn’t feel so real if I don’t know.”

“Have you tried to have another child?”

“Yes, several times but it didn’t work. It seems that I am not capable of bearing a child, at least, not for long. So, I just decided that I should concentrate on helping other women. I have supervised hundreds of pregnancies and they all ended well. It makes my life more meaningful. But I guess I will never stop thinking about my child.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

“It was many years ago. It doesn’t hurt so much now.” Morgana put her arms around Zelda “I will do everything possible to protect you” she put one hand in Zelda’s belly “and your daughter.”

“That’s very kind. I am so happy that you are here.”

“Your family will be back soon. You should rest before they are.”

“I want to tell them. About the baby.”

“Are you sure? You can wait a bit longer.”

“I think it is time. I have been waiting long enough, they should know.”

“Then you could wait one more day until the Winter Solstice. What do you think?”

“That’s a great idea. Will you join us? I’d like you to be there too. If that’s not too much to ask.”

“I won’t miss it. I want to see their reaction, I guess they will be surprised. And to support you, of course.”

“They will have a lot of questions and I don’t want to answer them alone. Hilda will be mad that I didn’t ask her to be my midwife. But that’s her problem.”

“I think she will understand.”

“I am worried about Sabrina’s reaction. She is so unpredictable.”

“I am sure it will be fine.”

The next couple of days they spent as usual and then it was the Winter Solstice. The house was decorated and all of them gathered in the living room. Hilda had made some tea for them. They had lit the Yule log. Zelda was quite nervous. She had been avoiding that conversation for weeks but now she finally had to tell them. She was waiting for the right moment and when there everyone stopped talking there was a moment of silence.

“There is something I would like to share with you.”

“What is it, auntie?” Ambrose asked.

“I am sure you have noticed my strange behaviour these past few weeks. I have been seeing father Blackwood for some time but then we broke up. And, as it turned out, I am pregnant.”

They sat in silence for some time.

“When did it happen, auntie? I didn’t know you two were a thing.” Sabrina seemed shocked.

“Are you going to keep it?” there was a concern in Hilda’s voice.

“Yes, sister. And it is a girl.”

Sabrina stood up, walked towards her aunt and sat next to her. Then she hugged her.

“You should have told us. You wouldn’t have to go through this alone.”

“I wasn’t alone, actually.” Zelda looked at Morgana. Sabrina turned to her.

“She told you?”

“Not really, no. I was the one who told her. I have a kind of a talent noticing it.”

“She helped me a lot. And, Hilda, I hope you are not angry that she is my midwife and not you.”

“Of course not, if she knows what she is doing.”

“Don’t worry. I am giving her the best care.”

“Now that you told us, I think I can see a little baby bump. You have been hiding it very well, I must admit.” Sabrina was a bit disappointed that she didn’t notice before. But she was happy about having a new baby in the house.

“What week are you on?” Hilda wanted to know.

“Fifteenth, I think. Is that right, Morgana?”

“The beginning of the fifteenth, yes.”

“And you don’t feel nauseated? I have never seen you throwing up.”

“I did feel nauseous, but Morgana made some tea and it is helping.”

“What tea is it? I haven’t heard of it.”

“It is a recipe of my own. I invented it many years ago. The ingredients are very rare and almost impossible to find but it is worth it.” she didn’t want to tell more details.

“So, you are feeling well?” Sabrina suddenly showed a lot of concern for her aunt.

“Tired and too emotional sometimes but good.”

“I am very happy for you, aunt Zelda, I mean it.”

“That’s very kind, Sabrina.” now was Zelda’s turn to hug her niece.

“Give me your hand.”

“Why?”

“Just give it.” Sabrina did as she said.

Zelda put it on her belly.

“Can you feel it?” Sabrina sat for a moment. Then she felt little kicks.

“She is kicking! That’s so cute!”

“Yes, it is.”

Sabrina took her hand off, Zelda looked down and put her own hand there.

It was a happy Winter Solstice for all of them. Even for Morgana, now she had some good memories of this holiday, it hurt a little bit less.


	13. Restless days

Some more weeks passed. Zelda was already six months pregnant and her belly was visibly bigger. Since her family found out, they were being very delicate with her. They didn’t let her do any work, tried not to upset or worry her because it would be bad for the baby. Even Sabrina tried her best to help her aunt. After all, she wanted her to be happy. The weekly checkups showed good results, both, Zelda and the baby were fine. Only problem was that Zelda was getting tired very quickly. She found it annoying. She didn’t want her family to take care of her, she was a grown up witch, but she couldn’t manage on her own. She needed help with common things quite often.

Ambrose and Morgana were out for the day, Sabrina was still sleeping after a long night. Zelda was sitting in the living room, reading a book. She didn’t feel comfortable as she had become more sensitive. The sofa felt very hard but she didn’t have much of a choice because she couldn’t enjoy walking these days. It made her feel dizzy.

“Hilda!”

There was no response. 

“Hilda!” she tried again “Where the hell is she?” the woman whispered to herself.

“Good morning, aunt Zelda.” the young witch was still sleepy.

“Good morning, Sabrina. Have you seen your aunt Hilda?”

“No, what is it?”

“I need to talk to her”

“She might be outside, doing some gardening.”

“Could you ask her to come here?”

“Sure”

Then she left the room, but after a few moments returned and Hilda followed her.

“Sister, what’s the matter?”

Sabrina went back to her room to get some more rest.

“Could you make some more of the muffins you made yesterday? I am hungry.”

“But... you ate breakfast not even half an hour ago.”

“I know but I want more. There is a little witch growing inside of me, I can’t help it.”

“Let me finish my work in the garden first. And then I will make you whatever you want.”

“And, Hilda... will you give me another book? I finished this one.”

“Can’t you take it yourself? The bookshelf is right here. It is not that far.”

“Yes, but what if I get dizzy or something? I am afraid to fall and harm the baby. That one time I got very scared, I don’t want it to happen again.”

“Morgana told me about it. I understand” she walked towards the shelf and took one book in her hands “Will this one do?”

“Yes, thank you, sister.”

“Now I should get back to work, but I will be back soon enough.”

It took some time for Hilda to finish her work in the garden. But Zelda was waiting patiently, she didn’t want to bother everyone even more. She already asked them for a lot of things and she didn’t like it. Zelda was always the one in charge. She took care of everything, especially her own life. She couldn’t get used to the thought that she can’t control everything, it was against her nature, but she had to deal with it.

“I am back, I can cook you muffins now.” Hilda came into the room, she was all covered in dirt.

“Look at you, your clothes are all dirty. You should change first.” Zelda didn’t want her sister to walk around in dirty clothes just to make food for her faster.

“All right then, I will come back in a minute.”

“Take your time.”

Hilda changed her clothes and went to the kitchen. She managed everything quickly as always, she was an experienced cook. In ten minutes she had already put the muffins into the oven to bake. Zelda could feel the smell even in the living room and it made her more hungry. It didn’t take long for them to get ready. Hilda took them out and put on a plate. Then she went to the living room where Zelda was waiting for her.

“The muffins are ready, but they are still hot, I just took them out of the oven. So, you should wait a little longer if you don’t want to burn your tongue.”

“I will wait, I am not so stupid to eat them so hot.”

She waited a while and then tried one.

“It is good as always.”

“I am glad to hear it.”

Zelda ate a few more and they tasted just as good.

“How are you feeling?”

“What do you mean?”

“I noticed that you don’t feel comfortable. Maybe I can help you somehow.”

“I don’t think so. I just have to deal with it. But it is not so bad. To be honest, there is another problem.”

“What is it?”

“I am not sleeping well recently. I keep waking up all night long and I can’t get a proper rest.”

“Have you tried a calming tea?”

“Yes, it is not helping.”

“Maybe you should try a sleeping spell then.”

“But I can’t put it on myself.”

“Then I can do it. Or you I could ask Morgana. Probably she knows better.”

“Probably. But there is no need to bother her now. You can do it.”

“I will try to do my best.”

“It is just a sleeping spell. There is nothing complicated in it. I am sure you will do it well.”

Later Hilda walked her sister to her room, she lay down on her bed and let her younger sister do the spell. It worked and she slept well throughout the night. She woke up only in the morning.


	14. Harmless things

Morgana got home only in the morning. Hilda was awake but Zelda, Sabrina and Ambrose were still sleeping.

“Hilda, where is everyone? Sabrina and Ambrose should be getting ready to go to the Academy.”

“They are still sleeping.”

“And Zelda?”

“She is sleeping too.”

“But she is not usually sleeping for so long.”

“Well... I put a spell on her yesterday evening.”

“What spell? Why didn’t you ask me?”

“A simple sleeping spell. I thought she needed some rest. She was having a restless sleep and I wanted to help. I shouldn’t have done that? Is it going to harm her?”

“I don’t think it would do any harm. But it isn’t good, either.”

“What should we do now?”

“Nothing. I will talk to her when everyone has left.”

The rest of the Spellman family got up soon. They ate breakfast and got ready for the day. Ambrose and Sabrina went to the Academy, and Hilda went to her work. Morgana and Zelda were the only ones left in the house. Zelda was in her room sitting on the bed. She was looking outside of the window, with her left hand she was stroking her not so tiny belly. Morgana came in quietly, it was quite unexpected. Morgana sat on the bed next to Zelda.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking.”

“Hilda told me about the spell.”

“I could finally have a rest, it was very helpful.”

“I am glad that you feel better. But you shouldn’t use such spells without talking to me first. It is all right if you use it once, but don’t make it a habit.”

“But it was just a simple sleeping spell, no more than that.”

“It is helping to sleep but it may also cause difficulties with your pregnancy. We will find another way to improve your sleep.”

“What way?”

“You could try some more teas or something. But first of all you need to get some fresh air. Why don’t we go for a walk?”

“No, it makes me feel worse. I don’t want to.”

“You need it. Nothing will happen, I will be next to you all the time, you will be safe, I promise.”

“What if I pass out again? I don’t want it to repeat.”

“It won’t happen. Let’s go.”

“And where are we going?”

“To the forest, of course.”

Zelda got up, hand still on her belly. She looked down at it and sighed. Morgana gave Zelda her hand and she took it. They went down to the front hall, put on their coats and walked outside of the house. The air was very fresh there, but Zelda still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.

“Just walk as fast as you want and tell me if something is wrong. I will be by your side, you can hold my hand if it will make you feel safer.”

“Yes, it will.”

She took her hand and they started walking into the forest.

“So, what is it like to feel your baby kicking?”

“It is wonderful, I can’t wait to see her. Your baby never...”

“No. And I will never feel it myself. That’s ironic at some point. I have felt so many babies kicking, but it will never be my own.”

“But what about Julianne, you have her.”

“Yes, I do, we are spending quite a lot of time together recently.”

“You will have to invite her to our home.”

“Sure. But she doesn’t like my job as a midwife too much, she is not very fond of babies.”

“Well... maybe she will change her mind eventually.”

“I hope so because I am going to spend a lot of time with your little girl. Maybe she will start calling me auntie as Sabrina does.”

“You don’t have to spend less time with your girlfriend because of me.”

“But I want to. She has to understand that.”

They walked for a few hours but none of them noticed the time passing.

“We should go home, it’s getting dark. I must admit, we had a good walk.”

“We can do it again tomorrow.”

They got home, everyone was there. Ambrose and Sabrina went to their rooms already. The others were going to go too, but then they heard a knock on the door. They didn’t expect anyone to come. Hilda stood up and went to the front hall to open the door.

“Father Renaud!”

“Good evening sister Hilda. I hope I am not bothering.”

“Of course not, come in.” he came inside and she showed him into the living room where the others were. Zelda was shocked to see him there, she immediately stood up and so did Morgana.

“Sister Morgana” he looked at her and then turned to Zelda “Sister Zelda, I see that you are carrying a child. Congratulations.”

“Thank you, your Excellency.”

“I wondered if we could talk about our Church. There are some things I would like to discuss.”

“Sure, do sit down.” Hilda was excited about him being there, she could hardly keep her emotions to herself.

Renaud walked all the way to the sofa and sat down next to Morgana.

“I hope you are all satisfied with the current situation, my job as the High Priest. We should talk about some of my new plans. I want to hear your opinion on them. It would mean a great deal to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to share your thoughts/ suggestions in comments


	15. The old memories

They were discussing different things such as the new reform of the Church of Night, reconstruction of the Church, traditions that should be changed. The four of them were sitting there for quite a long time. Zelda wanted to sleep but she tried not to show it. But then she could no longer resist.

“I will go to my room now if you don’t mind, your Excellency.”

“Of course not, you should rest. I am leaving soon, anyway.”

She left the room and Hilda did the same some time after. There were only the two of them left there. Renaud saw his opportunity.

“I suppose we can talk about what happened between us now.”

“They may hear.”

“It won’t be that loud.”

“It was many years ago, there is nothing to talk about. Just forget it.”

“Nothing? We spent so many nights together and then you said that we should stay colleagues and no more than that.”

“As I said, it was a long time ago. I have moved on. And I suggest you do the same.”

“But those were magnificent nights, we should repeat that.”

“No, I have a girlfriend.”

“But you want me, admit it.”

“Yes, I do want you, Alister. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Just one night. She will never find out.”

He leaned closer to her. His lips almost touched hers.

“But how can you be so sure?” she whispered.

“I just am...” then he kissed her. She didn’t resist. It was a long and passionate kiss. Then they moved a bit further from each other. Alister put his hand on Morgana’s thigh and started moving it up.

“Not here...” she didn’t want him to stop, but she was also afraid that someone would hear them. Alister teleported them to his house. It was very similar to the one he had in Amsterdam, just a bit bigger. Morgana liked it, this house reminded her of the old times.

They went to his room, it was big and had a huge bed. They headed directly towards it. When they reached a corner of the bed Alister started to unzip Morgana’s dress, and she started opening his belt. In a while there was only the underwear left on them. The two of them lay on the bed, Morgana was on top as always. They kissed and then Alister took off her panties. He began to do things with his mouth that made Morgana scream in pleasure. He continued to do that for some time. Then he took off his underwear and put his cock inside of her. They reached their orgasms at the same time. It continued over and over again until the sun started rising.

“I should get back” Morgana whispered resting her head on Alister’s chest.

“Stay for a bit longer.”

“I can’t, they will suspect something. I want it to stay our little secret.”

“If there is no chance for me to convince you then go. I can’t hold you here against your will.”

“Don’t be silly, Alister!”

“I am very serious.” he chuckled. She smiled at him.

Morgana got out of the bed, dressed quickly and moved towards the door.

“Wait!”

“What is it now?”

“Just one last kiss.”

She walked back to the bed and they kissed passionately. Then she left his house.

The Spellmans were still sleeping when Morgana got into the house. She went to her room as quietly as she could not to disturb the others. It was quite a challenge but she made it to her room and no-one seemed to have woken up.

The next morning Zelda walked in her room.

“Where were you last night?”

“I... why weren’t you sleeping?”

“I went to the bathroom and looked into your room on the way back.”

“I was with the High Priest. We were discussing some Church things.”

“Discussing Church things? Really?”

“All right. We fucked. Will this answer satisfy you?”

“But I thought you and Julianne...”

“Nothing has changed. It was just a one time thing and will not happen again.”

Hilda had a free day so she decided to join Zelda and Morgana when they went for a walk. They were chatting about different things.

“The High Priest likes you, doesn’t he?” Hilda had noticed that father Renaud acted more freely in Morgana’s presence, always payed more attention to her than to the others.

“He is just being nice. That doesn’t mean that he likes me, as you call it.”

“But he is so open with you and always listens to you so carefully.”

“We are old friends, that’s why he is talking to me more. He knows me. But he will get to know you too, eventually.”

“Perhaps. He is a nice man, isn’t he?” Zelda couldn’t keep silent for long. Morgana looked at her with a bit of annoyance in her glance.

“You would know. Is he even more handsome than Blackwood?”

Zelda understood the hint and stopped talking about it.

“We should probably get back home. It will get dark soon.” Morgana was afraid to accidentally tell about her and Alister, so she thought that getting back in the house would help. At least for some time.

“Let’s go. I am getting tired, anyway.”

“Yes, Sabrina and Ambrose should be home by now.”

“Ambrose is staying with Luke tonight, remember? He told us this morning, sister.”

“Right, I forgot. I have many other things to think about these days.”

They headed back home, Sabrina was already there, drinking tea and doing homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment your thoughts


	16. Fault

Morgana walked in her room. She noticed that there was a letter on her desk. She headed towards it and took it in her hand. It was from Julianne, Morgana recognised her handwriting. But it was strange because they never exchanged letters, they spoke in private or on a phone. Morgana opened and started reading the letter. It was rather short but when she read the first sentence she froze. Julianne knew everything about her and father Renaud. It wasn’t mentioned how she found out, but somehow she did. She wrote that Morgana had betrayed her trust and she didn’t want to see or talk to her ever again. It was all over.

Morgana sat on her bed and didn’t move for a moment. Then she started sobbing, tears were rolling down her cheeks. She tried to stop it but couldn’t. The tears were just flowing.

She sat there for almost half an hour, but then Zelda walked in. She didn’t hear her coming.

“What happened?” Zelda asked while coming closer to the other witch.

Morgana lifted her arm and showed the piece of paper she was holding.

“Julianne. She found out.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she saw something or... I don’t know... But now she knows and won’t talk to me anymore.”

“Perhaps you can fix it, she may forgive you, you should explain everything to her.”

“There is nothing to explain. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have done it, but I let my desires take control over me and I regret it with every ounce of my being. But she is right. I betrayed her and she will never forgive me. I can’t fix it no matter how much I want to.”

Zelda sat on the bed. 

“Come here...” she put her arms around Morgana “You will get over it.”

Zelda lighted one of Morgana’s candles and took the letter. She held it above the fire and it started to burn. When almost half of it was on fire she put it in the fireplace. It didn’t take long for the paper to turn into ashes.

“What will I do now?”

“I don’t know. You should decide that.”

“What will I do without her. I don’t want to be alone.”

“You are not alone. You have me, this family, father Renaud.”

“Right. I need to talk to him.”

“Do you think it is a good idea?”

“I want him to know everything. He is responsible for it as well as I am. And I don’t want to upset you more. It is bad for your baby.”

“I will be fine. But promise me not to do anything reckless.”

“I can’t. You know me, I will set the world on fire if necessary.”

“That’s what I am afraid of.”

Morgana stood up and teleported away leaving Zelda alone.

She was standing in front of Alister’s house, she knocked on the door and waited for him to open. But nothing happened and she made a few steps back to see the whole house. It seemed that he wasn’t at home yet. But Morgana was in desperate need to talk to him, so she sat on the porch and waited. Some time passed, and then more, but she was still sitting there. She wasn’t going to go anywhere before having a chance to talk.

After several hours of waiting Morgana finally heard footsteps approaching. Then she saw him. He came closer and noticed her.

“What are you doing here? It is late, you should be at home.”

“There was a letter on my desk, it was from Julianne. She knows everything, about us, she doesn’t want to even talk to me.”

“I am sorry to hear that.”

“You are sorry? It is all your fault! If you didn’t come to me that night nothing would have happened. I shouldn’t have listened to you! I should have sent you to hell instead! But now it is all over, she won’t ever forgive me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but I think we should continue this conversation inside the house. You should calm down a bit.”

“Why would I listen to you?”

“Please, just go inside.”

She gave up and went inside. They went to the living room and sat down.

“You said she wouldn’t find out, but she did.”

“I don’t know how that happened, I swear I didn’t want to ruin your relationship.”

“It is too late now. And it was my fault too. I let you convince me.”

“I was quite persistent.”

“But, anyway, I am responsible for my actions. It was my decision. Sorry for yelling at you. You didn’t deserve that.”

“It is all right. Come here.” he hugged her very tightly. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes and then Morgana moved her lips towards his and kissed him. After that there was a moment of silence.

“Should we get to my room?”

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean that I have forgotten everything. I am still sad.”

“Do you think I can make you less sad?”

“You can try.”

“I think a hot sex will help with that. I will make you scream in pleasure.”

“That’s what I am hoping for.”

They went to the bedroom and spent the whole night in each other’s company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Do you have any suggestions?


	17. Unexpected events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for the following chapters?

At dawn they finally decided to get some sleep. When Morgana woke up it was already the midday. She didn’t expect that she would be there for so long. She just wanted to talk, but instead... It was a brilliant night, but now was the time to get back to the Spellman house. She got up from the bed and wanted to get dressed when Alister woke up.

“Where are you going?”

“I should get back. The Spellmans are probably wondering where I am.”

“They can wait a little longer. I will make you breakfast... or is it dinner time already? It doesn’t matter. Then we can go somewhere or stay here. What do you think?”

“Do you think it is right? My girlfriend just broke up with me and I am already spending my day with you.”

“I don’t care about what is right or wrong. I only want to be with you. Maybe you were not meant to be together. Maybe we are the perfect couple.”

“Maybe.”

“Will you stay, then?”

“All right. You really are very persistent.”

“Now, come back to bed. I am not done with you yet.”

Zelda woke up and went downstairs. No-one was there. Morgana hasn’t been there since the previous night. Was she still with father Renaud? Zelda was quite sure that she spent the night at his house and knew exactly what they were doing. She used to do the same with Faustus all the time.

She didn’t know when Morgana will be back, so she had to find an occupation for herself. The house was quite a mess and she decided to tidy up a bit. The others forbade her to do such things but she was too tired of sitting and doing nothing. Zelda put some books back to shelves and some other things. She remained careful, wasn’t lifting anything heavy, tried not to get too tired. After that she made herself some tea, later decided to go for a walk alone.

Zelda was ready to go back home, but then she heard footsteps.

“Zelda!”

It was a very familiar voice, her heart started beating faster, blood was rushing through the veins. She was trying to avoid this meeting for as long as possible, she wanted to run away but she couldn’t, there was no other way than to face it.

“Faustus... What are you doing here?” her voice was a little shaky.

“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to talk to you.”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the baby. I just heard from some warlocks that you are pregnant. You must have told me. It is my child too.”

“Why do you think that it is yours?”

“Isn’t it?” he was sure that he was the father, even if she tried to deny it.

“Even if it is, why do you care. You are not going to be a part of my child’s life. Not ever. So, why don’t you just leave me alone.”

“I want to be part of it’s life, part of your life. I made a mistake, but we can have a new beginning. We would have a happy family.”

“It wasn’t just one mistake, you lied to me for years. I can’t just forgive you. Not after all you put me through, there will be no new beginning, I have moved on. I will have a happy family, but you won’t be a part of it.”

“Zelda, please! I have changed, I not the man I was before.”

“You will never change. You will always be a selfish and greedy man, and I don’t want to listen to you any longer.”

“You can’t raise a child alone. What are you even thinking about? The child needs a father.”

“We will see about that. This child doesn’t deserve a father like you.”

“You won’t turn my own child against me. I won’t let you. If you don’t let me be a part of family, I will take my child away. I will raise him as a true Blackwood and keep away from you. You will never see him.”

“Him? You don’t even know if it is a boy.”

“Do you know?”

“Yes, it is a girl. What will you do with a girl? Are you going to make her your heir? I really doubt that.”

“We will see about that. She will be safer with me than with you.”

“We both know that it is not true.”

“Who cares about that? Nobody. I will tell her that her mother is dead and will be a loving father. She won’t even know about you.”

“I will protect my daughter from you. I won’t just give her up. Not ever.”

“How can you protect her, you are too weak. You can’t even protect yourself.”

Zelda was going to answer, but Faustus was already gone. She stood there for a moment, too shocked to move. Then she recovered and quickly headed back to the Spellman house. It was a long way, she had gone quite deep into the forest. After some time she finally could see the house and got out of the forest.


	18. The hunt

Morgana spent the whole day with Alister, they were having a good time. In the evening she had to go to the Spellman house at last.

They were sitting in the living room. Alister was on the sofa and Morgana sat on his lap.

“It is very good being here with you, but I must go now.”

“Do you really?”

“It is already evening. I spent here all day, I have to at least change.”

“You are right, but I still don’t want you to leave. I would spend all of my time with you if I only could.”

“I would love that too. But don’t worry, I will come again soon.”

“I will miss you.”

“You know what? Maybe you could see me off to the house.”

“You think? What if someone sees us?”

“No-one will. I doubt that there is someone except Zelda at the house.”

“Great then. Let’s get ready.”

They made the way to the house, Alister was going to leave when they saw Zelda coming out of the forest. She seemed scared of something. Both of them walked towards her.

“Zelda, dear, what happened? You look frightened.”

“He was there, in the forest.”

“Who was?”

“Faustus.”

“What was he doing there? Did he hurt you?” Alister asked.

“He came to see me, he wanted to talk about us. He wanted me to forgive him, so we could be a happy family. I told him that it would never happen, I would not let him see his child. Then he said he would take her away from me.”

“He wouldn’t dare. Not after losing his position as the High Priest, losing everyone’s trust.” Renaud didn’t believe it was possible.

“But he was talking seriously. It wasn’t just a threat, he will actually do that. I don’t think he cares about what people will do. He has already lost everything. That makes him even more dangerous, he is not afraid of punishment, he will just take my daughter and run far away. I need to protect her. I can’t lose her.”

“We should go to the house. We will talk inside. I will think about what can be done.” Renaud was really concerned about the current situation.

They got inside, went to the living room, Zelda sat on the sofa and put her left hand protectively on her belly.

“How can I protect her? He is so powerful and cunning. Why is he doing that, why is he being so cruel? It is his child, after all. How can he just take her away from me, from her family. That’s not fair...”

“I have an idea. If he is such a threat to your family, we should lock him up. As the High Priest I will give order to find him as soon as possible and take him to the dungeon. I will look for him myself too. We will find him, and when we do he will be powerless, he will never hurt anyone again. I can promise you that. He has already done enough, it’s time for him to be stopped.”

“But he is still out there. What if he comes back?”

“I need to go now, but I think Morgana is a strong witch. She can protect you if necessary. I will come back later, we won’t leave you alone even for a second until it is safe.”

“Thank you. I am really grateful to both of you.”

“You can thank me when Faustus Blackwood is under arrest. But for now, just keep calm.”

Then he left the house. He asked the members of the coven to come to the Church. It didn’t take long for everyone to gather.

“Listen to me! Faustus Blackwood, the former High Priest, had threatened the Spellman family. He has been charged for treason and has to be found, arrested and delivered to the prison cell. There he will remain prisoner as long as I see it fit. Do you have any questions?”

No-one said anything.

“If not, then go and find him. I shall join you, and the most active participants will be rewarded. Off you go now.”

Zelda was in her room, Morgana was with her. The other Spellmans had returned home and they explained the situation to them. A bit later Alister Renaud appeared in the front hall, he went to the kitchen where Hilda was sitting.

“Sister Hilda, could you ask Morgana to come here?”

“Of course, your Excellency.”

She went upstairs and a few moments later Morgana came down. Hilda stayed with her sister.

“Are there any news?”

“Everyone is looking for him, he won’t be able to hide forever. How is she, it must have been a huge stress.”

“She is too nervous, I am worried. Better if Blackwood gets found sooner.”

“Some witches are trying to locate Blackwood. He has covered himself from spells, but it won’t last long. We will find him.”

“I hope so. And be careful, please.”

“I will.”

And then he left again.


	19. Dangerous times

The group of witches and warlocks were trying to find Faustus Blackwood all night. They were using many different spells, it was hard to break Faustus’ protection spell. Finally one warlock’s spell worked and they knew exactly where Faustus was hiding. Alister Renaud and some other members of the coven got there. It was a small abandoned house in the middle of a forest quite a long way from Greendale. But they made it just on time, Blackwood was going to leave when they walked in. Turned out that there was a young witch, who was helping him. He threatened her, so she did everything he asked for, got him away safely, put a cloaking spell on him and the house. He was going to leave her there and find another witch somewhere else. He thought he would be able to leave before getting caught but was wrong. The witch wasn’t from their coven or any other coven, her name was Melissa. Renaud didn’t blame her for doing all those things, he understood that she had no choice, Faustus used her. The High Priest offered her to join his coven, she hesitated but then agreed. She had a potential and could become a very powerful witch. They put Blackwood into the prison and there was a warlock to guard him.

It was already morning. Alister got to the Spellman house and went straight to Zelda’s bedroom. He knew that Morgana would be there. He walked inside the room and saw them.

“Am I interrupting?”

“No, not at all.” Morgana was ready to listen.

“I have good news. We found Blackwood, he is prison now, very well guarded. You are not in danger anymore.”

“That’s great news. Isn’t it, Zelda?”

“Are you sure that he won’t get out? You know, he could convince your guard to let him out.”

“Faustus won’t get out, I trust the man, and put a little spell on him to be sure. He won’t do anything even if he wants to. Blackwood is smart, but I am smarter.”

“Well then, I have nothing to be afraid of. Thank you, father Renaud.”

“It will be better for all of us. I will leave you two. I guess you want to talk about it privately.”

He went downstairs leaving them alone.

“Aren’t you relieved, Zelda? They caught him, he is not coming back.”

“Yes, but how long can they hold him prisoner. He will find a way to get out sooner or later. I can’t even think about what happens if he does. I won’t have a normal life while there is a smallest chance for him to come back here.”

“He will be guarded all the time, it is very unlikely that he ever gets out. But we can hide you both with a spell. It will protect you from him, he won’t find you.”

“He is too powerful, he would find us anyway. A spell is not enough.”

“What do you suggest then?”

“I will have no peace while he is alive.”

“So you want him to be executed? Are you sure? After all, he is the man you once loved.”

“I will never forget the wonderful time we spent together, but he is different now, that man I loved is long gone. I think he has to be dead. Wouldn’t that be better for all of us?”

“That’s your decision to make. I will support you no matter what you say. I just don’t want you to regret it later, that’s all.”

“I am sure, I can’t live in fear of him.”

“I understand. Alister and I will talk about it, I will tell him that you want that.”

“Please, do that.”

Morgana went downstairs where the High Priest was already waiting for her.

“What were you talking about? Or is it a secret?”

“Zelda and her daughter will always be in danger while Blackwood is alive. He has to die. There is no other option.”

“Is that what she wants? But he can stay in prison, there will someone to guard him all the time. There is always other option.”

“Do you really think he won’t get out? Maybe it will take days, maybe years or centuries, but he will.”

“You are right. What do you want me to do? Kill him?”

“You should make it official, he will be executed for treason against his own coven.”

“So, it has to be public?”

“I think that if the members of the coven saw that, they would try not to repeat his mistakes. But they would be afraid of you, think that you punish everyone who gets in your way. We should do it quietly, just make the announcement afterwards.”

“Should I tell them at all? Maybe we could say that it was an accident, he attacked the prison guard and got himself killed.”

“That’s even better. Let’s do that. But can you put fake memories into prison guard’s mind? He needs to believe it’s true.”

“Is that even possible? How can one change someone’s memories like that?”

“It is possible. I know how to do that. I will need a few minutes with him, and I will get Belladonna potion and give it to him. He will die rather quickly, you won’t have to do anything.”

“You are a dangerous witch, Morgana Desrosiers. I am impressed.”

“How do you think I survived through all these years? I needed to learn to protect myself.”

“Let’s do it. Come to my house shortly before midnight. We will go there together, I will make sure no-one sees us.”

Then he pulled Morgana closer to himself and kissed her. When she opened her eyes again he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, share your requests for the next chapters


	20. Mercy or cruelty

Alister and Morgana met at his house and got to the prison together. They stopped in front of the door of Faustus’ cell.

“Are you ready to do this? I can help.”

“There is no need. I will only make him drink this” she showed a small bottle “and then we will just need to get rid of the body. Do you want to bury him or you prefer burning?”

“We will bury him.”

“All right. Let me in, now.”

Alister turned to the guard “Open the door, Finn.”

He did that and Morgana went inside. The door closed behind her.

“Faustus Blackwood, I haven’t seen you in quite a long time.”

“What do you want?”

“Honestly, I came here to kill you. See this bottle? It is one of the deadliest poisons in the world. Just a sip of this potion will leave you no chance to survive. Luckily for you it works quickly, you won’t suffer for long. But don’t consider it a mercy because it is not. I need this to be done as soon as possible.”

“Where is Zelda? I need to talk to her.”

“She is not willing to talk to you. Now, listen to me. You will die anyway, but I suggest you don’t fight back, I am stronger than you and I am not here to torture you.”

But he didn’t want to give up so easily and tried to attack. Morgana stopped him with magic and made him sit on his knees. She opened his mouth and poured a bit of the poison. She made sure he swallowed itand got out of the cell.

“Is it done?”

“Yes, now him.” she pointed at Finn “I need to be left alone with him.”

“Of course, I will wait somewhere else.”

He walked out and Morgana came closer to the guard. She started whispering a spell. She imagined a scene where Faustus is attacking Finn, and he is trying to protect himself accidentally killing the prisoner. She concentrated on that thought and kept whispering the spell. After some time the image appeared in Finn’s mind too. He would believe that it is a memory the same as everything else. It took some more time to finish the spell completely. When it was done the guard passed out, as he wakes up he won’t remember anything of what happened there.

Morgana walked out of the room to where Alister was standing.

“How did it go?”

“Fine, he is asleep now, but he will be fine.”

“So, it worked? He will wake up and have memories of Faustus attacking him? He will think that he killed him?”

“He will remember having no choice but defend himself, and you telling him that everything is fine.”

“But won’t he remember us coming here, letting you inside the cell? It would be suspicious.”

“He won’t remember that. There will be no evidence of our visit. That’s what we will make everyone believe in. In the morning we tell the official story, and from that moment there will be no other version. Do you understand?”

“Shouldn’t we at least tell Zelda the truth? She deserves to know.”

“No, she will guess that it is not true. But we will never tell anyone what really happened. Not ever. After some time this story will be forgotten. For now just let them talk.”

“And what about the body?”

“We will bury it after the announcement.”

“How can you be so confident about all of this? You really know what you are doing. Sounds like you have done it before.”

“Maybe I have...”

“You have so many secrets. That’s mysterious... and sexy. Let’s go to my house.”

“I guess I have no choice.”

“You are right.”

They got to Renaud’s house and went directly to his bedroom. But even before they got there, Alister pressed Morgana against the wall, leaned closer and kissed her. She started unbuttoning his shirt. When they approached bed, both of them were almost naked. They had a wild night. Neither of them could have any rest because they had things to do. But they didn’t feel tired after their adventures, they were still full of energy.

Morgana had to go to the Spellman house and tell them about Blackwood’s death. At some point she wanted to tell Zelda the truth, but she decided not to. It would be better if no-one knew it. There was no need for everyone to know that she murdered someone in cold blood. She has been known for her cruelty by many people over the years. She had done terrible things and there were still some people who remembered that. The witch didn’t want the history to be repeated. Killing Faustus Blackwood wasn’t the worst thing she could do, she could have tortured him for a long time, he would be begging her to kill him. She gave him a very strong poison that killed him in just a few minutes. After all he had done, he deserved to suffer, but his death was merciful. But the others wouldn’t understand. Murder is murder no matter what. She wanted to make him regret everything, but Zelda loved him for a long time, and she didn’t want to hurt her.


	21. Go and don’t look back

It was still early in the morning when Morgana was standing on the porch of the Spellman house. She prepared herself to go in and tell them the story. She went in but turned out that everyone was still sleeping. She decided to sit in the kitchen and wait for them to come. In a few hours Hilda and Ambrose woke up, Sabrina and Zelda a bit later. They all gathered in the kitchen to eat breakfast, Morgana didn’t think it was the right moment to tell them, so she waited until the breakfast was finished. Sabrina wanted to go to her room but Morgana stopped her.

“Wait, Sabrina. There is something I need to tell you. As you know Faustus Blackwood was arrested and put to prison. Last night he tried to escape. He attacked the prison guard. Blackwood is quite powerful, so that man had to protect himself using magic. Faustus got killed before he could harm anyone. He is dead.”

“Dead? So, that prison guard just killed him? Wasn’t he supposed to guard him?” Sabrina was curious as always.

“It was an accident. He just tried to protect himself, that’s what anyone would do. I believe it was a stressful situation, he didn’t have much time to think about what to do. He just did, but the spell he used was too strong. I am sure he didn’t mean to kill Faustus. But it happened and there is nothing we can change.”

Sabrina seemed to understand the situation and accepted it. 

“Well, maybe that’s for the best. He wasn’t a very pleasant person, anyway.”

“Sabrina, show some respect, he was our High Priest, after all.” Hilda didn’t like her niece saying bad things about anyone. Even if it was the man who broke her sister’s heart.

“High Priest who was dismissed from his duties for incompetence. Does death make him any better?”

“No, but you don’t have to be mean because of that.”

“All right, aunt Hilda.”

Zelda was sitting silently for the whole time. She didn’t know how to feel about all of that, so she just listened. The others were still talking when she stood up from her seat.

“I am not feeling very well, I will be in my room.”

And then she left. Morgana could guess the reason of her wanting to be alone. She understood that it was not easy for her. Morgana continued talking to Sabrina for some time after Ambrose and Hilda left the kitchen. The young witch wanted to know all the details, but Morgana tried to be as brief as she could. She didn’t want to risk exposing herself. Then Sabrina at last had to get ready for school and went to her room. Morgana decided to go to Zelda’s room to see how she is doing. She walked inside her room and saw Zelda lying on her bed, walked closer and sat right next to her.

“If you want to talk, just know that I am ready to listen. I know it is not easy for you, but you will get through it all.”

“I don’t even know what to think about all of this. I thought I wanted him to die, but now that he is gone... I know he was a terrible person and deserved everything that happened to him, but I loved him. I knew him as a different person. It feels like ages ago now, but we were happy at some point. We had so many happy moments together and then he did all those bad things. But I can’t hate him, not really.”

“Do you want to hate him?”

“That would be easier, don’t you think? I wouldn’t feel guilty. I wouldn’t miss him. I know it is better like this, there was no redemption for him, but still...”

“You will always have your happy memories. Maybe you should just concentrate on them. You are not guilty, he chose his own way. You should move on.”

“You are right, I need to stop blaming myself. Where is his body? Have you already taken it away?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to bury him properly, as it is supposed to be. He was a warlock, after all.”

“I want to be there. I need to say goodbye one last time.”

“Of course. How are you feeling? I mean... pregnancy. You have been having quite a lot of stress.”

“Not so well, I am feeling very tired all the time and my back hurts.”

“You should have more rest. I will make you a calming tea, it should help. And immediately tell me if something is wrong. All right?”

“Yes.” Zelda put both of her hands on her belly “Everything for my baby.”

“I will bring you the tea.”

Then she left the room and soon returned with a cup in her hand. Zelda sat in her bed and Morgana handed her the cup. She sat next to her while Zelda was drinking her tea. Morgana took the empty cup and put it on a bedside table. In a while Zelda started to feel sleepy and lay down. She fell asleep quickly, Morgana stayed for a bit longer and then went to her own room.


	22. Acceptance

Blackwood’s funeral was the following week. All the Spellmans came, there were some other witches and warlocks too, but not many. He was buried at a cemetery near the Church. There was a huge oak tree right next to his grave. Zelda tried to be calm but she couldn’t hold back her tears. She hated herself for that, the others saw her being fragile, they might think that she is weak. It was all very difficult for Zelda, there were so many emotions. But she got through that day, the worst part was over.

A couple of months passed. At first it was hard for Zelda to accept the situation but then she started getting used to it. Her family supported her as much as they could, she was thinking more about what would be better for her baby, that was the most important thing.

It was Thursday and Zelda was ready to do the checkup. She went to Morgana’s room, was already approaching the bed when she suddenly felt very dizzy. She stopped in the middle of the room, hoping that it would help.

Morgana noticed that something was wrong and quickly walked closer to her.

“It’s all right, let me help you.”

Morgana put her arms around Zelda’s shoulders and led her to the bed. Zelda sat down and wasn’t feeling so dizzy anymore.

“What happened? Are you all right?”

“I don’t know, it was like suddenly the world started spinning. But it is better now.”

“I hope so. Maybe we should do this in your room next time? You wouldn’t have to come here.”

“I can come, it was just a moment of weakness, it doesn’t happen very often. I am still capable of walking a few metres.”

“Zelda, you are eight months pregnant. I know you want to be strong and independent, but this is not the time. I can’t let you harm yourself. Next Thursdayjust wait for me in your room.”

“Fine.”

Morgana did everything quite quickly as always. Zelda sat and waited for Morgana to say something.

“Everything seems great. Actually the results are better than previously. She is such a strong girl. Do you want me to go to your room with you?”

“Can I stay here for a bit longer?”

“Sure. Stay as long as you want.”

“Thank you.”

She lay back down on the bed.

“Could you move a bit to the right?”

Zelda did that and Morgana lay next to her.

“Do you think it will be all right? Giving birth?”

“Well, you know that it is painful. But if there are no complications, it will be fine.”

“But complications happen quite often.”

“Yes, but you have nothing to worry about. I know what I am doing. Maybe then it will take a bit longer, but you will be safe. Both of you.”

“Will you do that alone?”

“I have done it alone many times, but I can ask Hilda to help. She could be useful, or just hold your hand.”

“She should better help you.”

“We will see.”

“She is kicking. I think she agrees to me.”

They both chuckled.

“Of course she does.”

“I can’t wait to see her. I already love this child so much.”

“You look so happy. I am even a bit jealous. It seems so wonderful to have a child.”

“It is. You will help me, right?”

“I will try. You have more experience in raising a child than I do. You have Sabrina. I have only read some books.”

“Hilda did most of the job with Sabrina. I am not sure I have fed her more than twice.”

“Then, I suppose we will have to ask your sister and do our best.”

“That’s so strange. We are great midwives, we know so much about pregnancies and delivering babies. But when it comes to raising a child we have no idea how to do that. Why did I think that if I am a midwife then I know everything about babies. But actually I don’t have any knowledge about what to do after birth. Do you have any idea?”

“Probably feed her, I think she will be sleeping quite a lot. For some time. Then she will start crying a lot.”

“What will I do then?”

“Try to calm her down, I think. We will figure that out.”

“I am starving. I will go to kitchen, get some food. Maybe Hilda has made something. Will you come too?”

“Let’s go. Get up.” Morgana was already standing in front of the bed.

“Wait, it is not so easy in my condition.”

Morgana took Zelda’s hands in hers and helped her get up. They walked out the room and reached the stairs. Zelda stopped there for a while.

“What is it?”

“It is just more difficult getting downstairs now. I don’t even see the steps below me.”

She put her hand on the handrails and started getting down the staircase, Morgana walked along her.

They got to the kitchen and Zelda saw that there were some muffins left on the table. She sat down and took one. Morgana was making some tea for both of them.


	23. Strange things happen

The following weeks everything was going well. Zelda felt good but Morgana still kept an eye on her, just in case. Even though Zelda was quite sure she was capable of going to the other room herself, she knew that it would be impossible to change Morgana’s mind. So she just let it be.

Father Renaud and Morgana were spending more time together. She was staying at his house for the night from time to time. Morgana remembered of her duties as a midwife and felt a bit guilty for not being there with Zelda, but Alister really knew how to convince. He didn’t want Morgana to forget about her duties, but the urge to be with her and to feel her body next to his was always stronger, he couldn’t help it. Morgana tried not to leave Zelda alone at the house. She only went to Alister’s when someone else was having a free day and staying at home.

One afternoon Morgana went to Zelda’s room, she needed to talk. Zelda was sitting on her bed and reading a book, Morgana came inside and stood right in front of her.

“Father Renaud asked me to help him with some papers at the Academy. One of the professors left recently, there is no replacement yet. So I need to go there and do something.”

“Is it an excuse to have sex with him? Not that I blame you. He is really hot.”

“Not this time. It is not all about sex. I am actually going to work. I will try to find some candidates for the job. Hopefully it won’t take too long.”

“All right then. You will trust me to stay here alone? I am impressed.”

“I don’t really have a choice. But Hilda will be back soon.”

Morgana and Alister were sitting in his office and grading some papers. She wasn’t a professor but she knew quite a lot about potions. That’s why Renaud gave those papers to her. She had never been a teacher officially, though she had had some apprentices. Most of their knowledge about magic they got from her. But they were different from these students. They never had the opportunity to attend an academy.

Morgana had already made a list of potential teachers. Father Renaud was going to interview them the next day. There was the last pile of works left to grade when they suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

Not waiting for an answer, some kid rushed into the office. He was a student at the academy, an eleven-year old orphan boy. Renaud recognised him, he did very well in his studies. The headmaster was surprised to see him there.

“Hey, calm down. You can’t run into this office like that.”

“I’m so sorry. But I didn’t know what else to do, I was so scared. I really didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“I was in the library and then that girl came. I was just looking for a book. I don’t know what I did wrong, but she tried to put a curse on me. I think she didn’t finish it, but I am not sure.”

“Do you know the name of that girl?”

“I think it was Sabrina. Sabrina Spellman.”

“Sabrina? Are you sure?”

“I heard one of her friends calling her by name.”

“Come closer, Morgana will check if there is a curse.”

He walked closer to the desk and Morgana stood up.

“Give me your hands and close your eyes. It won’t take long.”

The boy did as she said and after a while the witch came to a conclusion.

“The curse is not finished but there is a part of it on you. It is nothing serious. I will give you a potion and you will be all right. And we will deal with Sabrina, don’t worry about her.”

She walked out of the office and returned with a small bottle in her hand.

“Take a sip of this before sleep and in the morning. It should help. Tomorrow evening come to this office. Now you may go.”

The boy left, Morgana and Renaud looked at each other.

“Why would she do that? Cursing another student? It is serious.” Renaud was bewildered.

“I don’t know. Maybe something happened. I need to talk to her.”

“You should let her aunts do that. She is not your responsibility.”

“I know, but I don’t want them worry so much. Especially Zelda. She will be so stressed.”

“But she will find out sooner or later. You must tell her.”

“I will talk to Sabrina first. I need to know all the facts before telling Zelda.”

“Should I go with you?”

“No. I think it is best if I talk to her alone. Do you think she is at home already?”

“If not, she will soon be.”

“Then I will go. Will you finish grading without me?”

“Sure, go now.”

Sabrina was already at home, she was sitting in her room. Zelda and Hilda were also in the house, so Morgana tried to avoid meeting them as she got there. The witch went straight to Sabrina’s room, she didn’t even bother to knock on the door. Sabrina seemed quite disturbed when she heard her come inside.

Morgana saw her writing something before she hid that under some of her stuff. The young witch didn’t want anyone to see it, she had spent more time in private recently. She was definitely up to something, Morgana could feel that.

“Morgana! You should have knocked. What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“About what you did to that poor boy at the academy.”


	24. Guests in town

“What boy? What are you talking about?”

“The boy you tried to curse. He told me everything. Why did you do that?”

“It wasn’t me. Maybe he made a mistake.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me! There was no mistake and we both know that! So answer me, why did you do that?”

“He had a book I needed and didn’t want to give it to me. So I cursed him.”

“I said, don’t lie. I always know when a person is lying. Tell me the truth.”

“Why do you care?”

“Cursing another student is a serious action. What if you really cursed him? He was lucky and I only had to give him some potion. But it could have been much worse. You can’t play with such powerful curses. Do you realise that there will be consequences?”

“I wasn’t playing with it, I knew exactly what I was doing. I did what I had to do. You can punish me.”

“It won’t be my decision. It will be up to father Renaud and your aunts.”

“Have you told them?”

“No, I need to know all the facts first. So, why did you do that? What do you mean, you had to do it?”

“I just had to, that’s all.”

“I will find out anyway. Better just tell me. What is going on? And what are those papers you are hiding?”

“I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“Tell me or I will get into your mind and find out myself. And that won’t be so nice.”

“All right. My friends and I were practicing magic, I mean, the serious magic. I was supposed to curse someone but I failed. Now I have to find more powerful curse and try again.”

“Who are those friends?”

“I don’t really know. They didn’t talk much. I met them in the forest. I just wanted to practice some magic and they helped me.”

“Did they have sort of tattoos on their faces?”

“Yes, I think. At least one of them had. Why are you asking? Do you know them?”

“Yes, I do. Perpetua Dolor is how they call themselves. That gang is dangerous. They are practicing dark magic, trying to invent new, more cruel curses. They test them on people.”

“I didn’t know, I thought we were just practicing to be better.”

”That boy is really lucky, and you too. They could have used one of the curses on you but they let you join them instead.”

“Why do you think is that?”

“Maybe they saw a potential in you. I don’t know. I need to see them. Do you know where they are?”

“There is an old shack in the forest. We used to meet there. But what will you do?”

“Talk to them, threaten them, something like that.”

“You said they are dangerous. They might harm you.”

“I will manage, don’t worry.”

Then Morgana teleported away. She turned up at the edge of the forest. After a few minutes of walk she could see the shack Sabina was talking about. It seemed empty, there were no lights but as she got closer Morgana could hear voices. They were talking about some grandiose spell. Though it was dark, she could see the figures outside. She got closer and lit the fire right next to them. They were so shocked that one of them even jumped a little. There were three boys and two girls. After a while they came back to normal.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?” the boy, who seemed to their leader, asked. He seemed quite confident, but Morgana knew that they were still under impression.

“I am Morgana Desrosiers. I know who you are and what you are doing. Using young witches to achieve your ambitions, how pathetic.”

“We are inventing new magic, how about that? You think you are so smart? But what will you do when we put a curse on you?”

“You can’t do that.”

“We will see.”

They all started muttering some words. The curse started to get activated. When it was done they stared at Morgana in triumph but she just closed her eyes and lifted her left arm. A ball of light started to appear in her hand.

“This is your glorious curse. Looks like your plan failed. Now I can send it back to you. Isn’t it one of your most powerful curses? It will be fun watching you suffer.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Do you really want to find out? I have done things worse than this. I think I could do it even better than you.”

“Then do it. What are you waiting for?”

“I give you two options. I can make you suffer or you get away from here. You won’t practice, as you call it, your spells on anyone and won’t make others do it. If you even try I will find out and kill you. You will continue your miserable existence somewhere far from here. So, what do you choose?”

“How dare you threaten us? We are the Perpetua Dolor.”

“Don’t forget that I defeated you. I am holding your powerful curse right in my hand. You didn’t have enough strength to put it on me. Just go away and I won’t harm you. I think you have humiliated yourself enough.”

“We will go. But this is not the end. We will meet again.”

“If you don’t die before that. Get out of here until the dawn.”

After that she walked away, leaving them behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment what do you think of this


	25. Solution

Sabrina couldn’t sleep, she was waiting for Morgana to return. She felt very foolish, she had screwed up again. But all she wanted was to become better at magic. The young witch couldn’t stop thinking about how disappointed aunt Zelda will be when she finds out. When Sabrina met those people in the forest she was too overwhelmed to think about consequences. They convinced her that she would become more powerful and nothing else mattered. But they were wrong. Making innocent people suffer is not right.

Suddenly Morgana appeared in her Sabrina’s room. She looked fine, not a single scratch.

“It is done. You won’t see them again.”

“Did you kill them?”

“I wanted to. But no, I gave them a chance to start over. They will get away from here.”

“What if they don’t do as you said.”

“Believe me, they will. They are too terrified to disobey. But I still have to tell your aunts.”

“Do you really have to?”

“They will find out anyway. Better if I tell them. But they are sleeping already. It will wait until the morning. I can try to defend you. I know you want to be independent but at least Zelda won’t kill you on spot.”

“Well... sounds like it is the best option.”

“Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight.”

In the morning Morgana was the first to get up. She was thinking about how to tell Sabrina’s aunts about everything. First of all she needed to get them together. She could tell them before the breakfast.

Morgana went downstairs and waited for them. Hilda came the first and started cooking, after some time Zelda came too.

“Zelda, Hilda, we need to talk.”

“Can’t it wait a little longer? I’m starving.”

“No, dear. It’s important.”

“What is it about?” Zelda wasn’t hiding her impatience.

“Have you heard about the Perpetua Dolor?”

“The ones cursing everyone in their way? Yes, I have heard of them.”

“They were here. Testing some new curses and inventing new ones.”

“Are they gone now?” Hilda seemed quite scared.

“Yes, I made them leave. But that is not all.”

“What else is there?” Zelda was getting more and more impatient.

“Maybe you should sit down.” Surprisingly Zelda did as she was told.

“They used Sabrina, made her test their product on others.”

“What? Is she all right?”

“She is fine. But she almost put a curse on a student. He managed to run away, I gave him some medication, he is really lucky.”

“What do you mean they made Sabrina do that?” Zelda was a bit confused.

“She met them in the forest. They convinced her to join them. They said they would just practice some magic. She only wanted to become better at spells.”

“So she just trusted those strangers? What was she thinking about, how could she trust someone she met in the middle of the forest? They are not even from here.”

“Don’t be too angry with her, they are really good at convincing witches. And you need to remain calm. No stress, remember?”

“I remember. But I still need to talk to her.”

“She will soon get downstairs, I suppose. You can wait for her.”

“I will go to her room and talk in private.” Zelda got up and headed to the staircase.

“Just don’t be too harsh, sister.” Hilda said before she left.

Zelda knocked on the door but didn’t wait for an answer and walked inside.

“Good morning, Sabrina.” her voice remained calm. 

“Hello, aunt Zelda.”

“Morgana told me about your adventures.”

“She did? I can explain everything. I just wanted to practice, nothing more. They told me they would help me. It all went terribly wrong...”

“Sabrina...”

“I know it was very foolish of me to trust complete strangers. I shouldn’t have even listened to them but I did. And I am so sorry. You can punish me as you see suitable.”

“I don’t want to punish you. It wasn’t your fault. I’m so glad you are all right. They could have hurt you.”

“Aren’t you angry? I thought you would kill me yourself. Or at least talk about what an idiot I am for half an hour.”

“You are right, I should have done all of that. Maybe it’s just the hormones. And you are a bit of an idiot. But I still love you.” Zelda gave her niece a hug.

“But why did you want to practice magic with them in the first place? You are doing well at the academy and in general.”

“Yes, but you are all so powerful. I wanted to be stronger, so you could be proud of me.”

“You don’t have to be the most powerful witch in the world, I am proud of you anyway. And you can always ask me for help. Or someone else. We can teach you some things if you want.”

“I don’t want to be a burden. You have other things to think about. You will become a mother soon... I still can’t believe it.”

“Me too... But there is still time. And Morgana knows much about all sorts of magic. You can ask her.”

“Have you thought about a name?”

“What?”

“A name for your baby?”

“No, not yet. I am not ready at all. Sometimes I think I never will be.”

“It will be fine, don’t forget that you are a midwife.”

“That won’t help with raising a child.”

“But you raised me.”

“Actually, Hilda did most of the job.”

“Then I am sure she will help you. And I can look after my cousin anytime you need. And I can help with choosing a name.”

“That’s very kind, Sabrina. Thank you.”


	26. New places

One morning Zelda wasn’t feeling very well, so she decided to stay in her room. It was nothing serious, just the head a bit spinning and back ached. That kind of stuff happened quite often and Zelda usually didn’t pay much attention to that. But that morning she was emotionally drained too. Her family tried to keep her away from any stress but there wasn’t much of success.

Hilda was in the kitchen baking cookies when Ambrose walked in. He expected to see everyone gathered there, but instead he found out that there was only aunt Hilda. It seemed odd to the warlock, he doubted that the others hadn’t come down yet, he was usually the last one to get ready, or sometimes it was Sabrina.

“Where is everyone, auntie? Have I missed everything?” he said it as a joke but then started thinking, if that could really be the case.

“Sabrina and Morgana had to go somewhere, they won’t be back until the dark. They didn’t say where exactly they were headed, just something about it being fascinating. I hope they are not doing something dangerous, you know them, anything could happen.”

“And aunt Zelda? Has she gone too?”

“No, she is in her room. She is not feeling well and wanted to stay there. I will bring her something for breakfast later.”

“You must be busy, work and stuff. I can do it and stay with her a bit longer. I have a free day anyway.”

“All right then. I will finish cooking soon. Sit down.”

Ambrose ate his breakfast while Hilda was getting ready to go to work. When she left Ambrose put some food on a plate and went upstairs. He knocked on the door and Zelda told him to come in.

“Good morning, auntie. I brought you breakfast. Are you feeling any better?”

“Not really, but I will be all right.”

“Maybe I can help you somehow? Make some tea or something?”

“There is no need, it is normal for pregnancy. Come here, sit down.” she pointed next to her on the bed. Ambrose sat down and handed her the plate.

“So, why are you here, Ambrose?”

“I am worried about you. And my little cousin, that’s all. You are having too much stress.”

“I know, but what can I do? There is always something happening around me, I am trying to keep out of it, but still.”

“I just think you should have more rest. Don’t worry about us. We will survive somehow. You don’t have to look after us and save our arses all the time.”

“You are my family. How can I leave you alone. I wish you could stay out of trouble at least for one day.”

“Tell that to Sabrina. She is the worst troublemaker here.”

“That’s right, sometimes it is impossible to stop her. But I still love her and we should spend more time together. All of us.”

“That would be great. Alister is organising a ball.”

“Yeah, Morgana told me about it, she is going.”

“Maybe we should go too? I could ask Hilda and Sabrina to come. What do you think?”

“I don’t think I have a suitable dress.”

“I am sure you will find something. You always do.”

“Fine, I will go.”

*

Sabrina and Morgana got up early in the morning. The previous evening Morgana had promised to show something incredible. They left before breakfast, teleported away. It was a long way, that’s why more time was needed to get there. But when they finally arrived, there was a forest around them, it felt colder than before and it was the middle of the day. Morgana didn’t tell Sabrina their exact destination, the only thing she knew was that they were far away from home.

“So, where exactly are we?”

“In the north of Norway.”

“Norway? That’s so far away.”

“Yes, it is, but it doesn’t matter. Now, come on.”

Morgana walked further away and Sabrina followed her. After a while she saw something that looked like ruins. When they came closer, Morgana stopped. She looked somewhere in the distance as if she saw something strange. She stood there for a moment, looking confused and then turned to Sabrina.

“What were you looking at?”

“Nothing. Here it is. My old house.”

“But these are ruins. What happened to it?”

“It was a long time ago when I lived here, many things happened since then. Actually, it used to be a castle.”

“That’s amazing! You had an entire castle.”

“But now there are just some stones, well, at least as far as you can see. The most interesting part is underneath it.”

Morgana moved her hand through the air and said some words in latin. Then something happened, suddenly there were stairs that led down into the darkness.

“There is a hidden basement then?”

“Yes, I had to cover it. You know how much people love going where they are not supposed to go.”

They got downstairs, but it was dark in there and Sabrina couldn’t see anything. Morgana lit some torches and then they could see. It wasn’t a big room but there was a door at the end of it.

“Let’s test your knowledge about magical creatures. Have you heard about Fenrirs?”

“I think so, yes. They are like giant wolves. But they were all killed, that’s what I heard at the Academy. They were very dangerous, so witches and humans decided to get rid of them. I suppose they were not so easy to kill.”

“No, it wasn’t easy. And there were witches and warlocks who protested against that, but the others didn’t listen. So, Fenrirs faced a massive extinction. But not all of them died.”

Morgana opened the door and they both walked inside the next room.

“This Fenrir survived. The last of his kind.”

“How did you manage to put him in here? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“I put a spell on him. All of this basement is under several spell, he can’t get out and no-one can get in. I didn’t want to use chains, spells keep him away from the world behind these walls, but they are not hurting him.”

“And you have kept him here all these years. It was quite a while ago when the Fenrirs were killed.”

“Yes, there is a spell that supplies him with food and water, and there is always fresh air.”

“You are just impossible, Morgana. Keeping a Fenrir underneath the ruins of your castle. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe you.”

“I know, that’s why I brought you here.”

They stayed there for some time, walked around a small town and teleported back home. In Norway it was already the night, but back at home it was only the afternoon.


	27. Revelations

Sabrina and Morgana walked inside the house and Zelda came into the living room too.

“Where have you been all day?”

“We were in Norway, seeing a Fenrir. Isn’t that amazing, auntie?”

“A Fenrir? But they were all killed. What are you talking about?”

“Not all of them died. I am keeping one in the basement of my castle. It’s only ruins now, but safe enough.” Morgana tried to explain.

“You had a castle? In Norway?”

“Dear, I was a queen. Of course I had a castle. Actually, it wasn’t the only one.”

“Where else did you have castles?”

“Have you heard about Merlostrey?”

“Of course I have. Who hasn’t? It was one of the greatest kingdoms in the history.”

“It was actually called Mertostrei. And queen Renaya... it was me.”

“How is that possible? She died many years ago.”

“I made one of my generals announce my death. Then I just put my apprentice on the throne and left.”

“Why did you leave? If you had so much power?” Zelda still couldn’t understand.

“There were other places I was needed. The kingdom lost it’s power after I left, the unbeatable army became an ordinary army, but I had to leave.”

Sabrina went to her room, still unable to process all that information. She couldn’t believe that Morgana was the queen she had heard so much about.

Zelda and Morgana were alone in the room. Zelda wanted to know all the details of the story.

“Why was that army unbeatable?”

“I didn’t have many soldiers, so I gave them power. They were almost impossible to kill and they could kill ten men at once. They could win every battle, even when enemies had an army hundred times bigger than mine. I didn’t know that my magic would give them so much strength. I just had to give an order and all my enemies were destroyed.”

“Did you fight in battles yourself?”

“I used to lead the army. I was in the first row, riding a horse and wearing a crown.”

“I wish I could have been there.”

“That would be an epic view.”

“Yeah.”

“I will go to my room.”

Morgana was going to leave when Zelda stopped her.

“I am going to the ball.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“That’s great! I just thought, you were not feeling well recently.”

“I will be fine.”

“All right.”

Morgana went to her room. She was thinking about what she saw in the forest. It couldn’t have been, it was impossible. Maybe it was just a trick that her mind was playing.

Three days had passed and it was the ball day. In the evening everyone was getting ready for it. Morgana had to be there a bit earlier than the others to help Alister with the preparations. Zelda didn’t want to teleport, instead she decided to have a walk and Hilda chose to go with her. It wasn’t far, anyway.

They all got ready and gathered in the living room. Morgana had to leave, but there was still time for the rest of them. She was walking towards the front hall when something cought her eye. When she looked out of the window it was already gone. But she knew that there was something out there. It felt so familiar. She stood in front of a window for a while, Ambrose noticed that.

“Is there something outside?” he was thinking that maybe he had forgotten that someone was supposed to come.

“No, nothing. I was just looking...”

No-one else seemed to have noticed anything outside, so she just left.

“The same happened in Norway. She was just looking at something as if she were frozen.”

“Whatever it was, I think we should stay out of it. She can deal with her own problems.” Ambrose wasn’t sure about that, but he wanted to keep his family away from more troubles.

There were a few more things that had to be done at the Academy. Balls were usually organised in the church but Alister thought it too small for that and changed the place. Morgana helped him and everything was finished soon. Later on guests started to arrive. Spellmans were one of the first to come, but Hilda and Zelda didn’t intend to stay for long. Ambrose and Sabrina on the other hand wanted to be there until the end.

The music was turned on and there was a place for dancing. Sabrina and some other witches and warlocks were there. Zelda was talking to some people, most of them wanted to know about the baby. Morgana was spending time with Alister, the hall was full of people, so they found a place apart from the eyes of the others to be on their own.

A few hours later Zelda got tired, but she didn’t want to leave yet. She found a place where she could sit down in the corner of the hall. Right then Morgana came to the hall to see what was happening. Nothing special was going on, as she found out. But then she noticed Zelda sitting there and headed towards her.

“Are you all right? Why are you sitting here alone?”

“Just a bit tired. Hilda met one of her old friends and they went somewhere.”

“Do you want to go home?”

“Not yet. I will stay for a bit longer.”

“Just tell me when you are ready to go. I will go with you.”

“You should stay with Alister.”

“I am sure he will manage without me for the rest of the evening. We will meet tomorrow. So, I will be somewhere around here, maybe in the library.”

Alister and Morgana danced for a while, when the others were having a rest. Zelda watched them while they were doing that and felt a bit jealous. She used to go to these balls with Faustus, they were having fun together, but that was before he turned out to be an asshole. But after all that time she still missed him at some point. She missed the lovely evenings they were spending together, the laughing. He was such a nice man, her everything. She kept wondering, what had changed him so much?


	28. Long time no see

It was close to midnight when Zelda decided that she wanted to go home. Some of the guests had already left but most of them were still there. They seemed to enjoy the ball. It was different from the previous years’ and people liked changes. Morgana spent most of the evening in Alister’s company. They were talking about things, and doing things. Zelda was looking for Morgana but she wasn’t in the hall. She remembered her saying about the library and went there. But Morgana wasn’t there either so she decided to go back to the hall and wait there. Zelda was walking down a corridor and said quietly to herself “where is she?”.

Then suddenly a door opened and Morgana walked out of a room. Zelda was a bit startled, she certainly didn’t expect that to happen.

“I am here. Sorry for making you wait. I suppose you are ready to go now.”

“Yes, we can go. But how did you hear me? Did you know I was here?”

“I might have accidentally gotten inside your head. Sorry, it wasn’t on purpose, I thought I heard you, but I didn’t. Anyway, can we go now?”

“Yes, sure.”

They got out of the Academy and headed towards the Spellman house.

Zelda wanted to stay quiet at first but then the curiosity took over.

“Why were you acting so weird this morning? You looked as if you saw a ghost.”

“Well... for a moment I thought I did. I am not sure anymore. Maybe I am just tired and see things that are not real.”

“But Sabrina said it had happened before. Do you know the person you think you saw?”

“It doesn’t matter. I really think it was just my mind messing with me, nothing more.”

Zelda decided not to interrogate Morgana further, so the rest of the way they talked about other things.

It took them about half an hour to get to the house. They were walking rather slowly, there was no reason to rush and the cold night air was very refreshing after spending hours at the academy.

Morgana was the first to go inside the house, Zelda was right behind her. They were headed to the stairwell but Morgana suddenly stopped in the middle of the living room. She turned to the right, Zelda looked at her and did the same. Then she noticed a man standing in the corner of the room, she didn’t know who he was or what he wanted, that made her feel frightened. Zelda tried to concentrate and think clearly. Morgana stood at the same spot, she wasn’t moving, not even blinking. She looked at the man without any sign of emotions on her face. Zelda couldn’t stand the silence for any longer, so she shook Morgana by the shoulder and she finally came to her senses, looked Zelda right in the eye.

“Do you see him too?”

“Yes.” Zelda answered, slightly confused.

Then Morgana turned back to the stranger, went a bit closer to him.

“Brother, is it you?”

“Of course, who else would it be?”

Zelda didn’t understand what was going on, she had never heard Morgana mention hear brother, not even once. And asking if she could see him was weird. Zelda didn’t want to interrupt them but she also didn’t want to leave, that’s why she stood there quietly and looked at the other two.

“This can’t be possible. How can you be here?”

“I came to see you.”

“But... you were dead. You died hundreds of years ago.”

“Yes, I died, I am just a ghost now. But I needed to see you.”

“Why now, after all these years? I missed you so much, you could have given a sign.”

“Believe me, sister, I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I am so sorry and I missed you too.”

“I thought I would never see you again. I felt so lonely after your death. I never told you, but you were the best brother I could wish for. After our parents died you were the only family I had left.”

“I know, I am sorry for leaving you alone. I had to take care of you as your brother and I failed.”

“It wasn’t your fault, those men killed you, they came from another village and slaughtered half of our people.”

“Is that what happened? I only felt the blade on my neck and then nothing. Did they hurt you?”

“No, they didn’t touch me. But I found them years later and killed one by one, starting with the one who took you away from me.”

“Well... I wouldn’t expect less from you. What did you do after that? Did you find someone?”

“There was a man, but it didn’t work out. So, I just focused on being a witch.”

Morgana suddenly remembered that Zelda was still there, she turned to her and asked to come closer.

“Zelda is a close friend of mine, I have been helping her with the pregnancy. And this is my brother Mikael. Can you go upstairs and wait there? We will talk later.”

“Of course, I shouldn’t interrupt a family reunion.” She left and the siblings continued with their conversation.

“I am glad you found your own way, you must be really good at all the magic now. You were always a powerful witch, everyone was a bit wary.”

“Not you, even when I destroyed everything around me, you were never afraid.”

“You are my sister. How can I be afraid of you? But now, listen. I don’t have much time left. I came here to warn you.”

“About what?”

“You will soon be in danger, a grwat danger. Your enemies will come to destroy you. They are more powerful than you can possibly imagine. You have to prepare.”

“Who are you talking about? Who is so dangerous that I need to be afraid?”

“You will have to figure that out yourself. I need to leave now.”

“No, don’t leave. Stay for a bit longer, I am begging.”

He started to fade and was gone in a few moments. Morgana fell to the ground and started crying uncontrollably.


	29. Nightmares come true

Morgana stayed where she was for nearly an hour. Then she finally decided to pull herself together, got up and headed towards the bathroom to wash her face. Morgana looked into a mirror, her eyes were red and she looked as if dying. She kept staring at her reflection in the mirror until remembered telling Zelda that they would have a talk.

Morgana went inside Zelda’s room where the other witch was already waiting. She wanted to know what had happened, but seeing Morgana’s expression on the face she decided against asking anything.

Morgana went closer and sat on a corner of the bed, making every effort not to cry.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I needed some time alone.”

“It is all right, I understand.”

“Do you really?” surprisingly, it didn’t sound sarcastic.

“Remember the thing about Faustus?” she didn’t think she would have to talk about him anytime soon, it still hurt a bit.

“Right... But he was my brother, my blood. He was my everything, we were always together, after our parents died he always protected me. Losing him was so hard, like losing part of myself.”

“You were really close?”

“We were not just a brother and a sister. Twins. We always felt some kind of a mental connection.”

“You never told me about him.”

“I never told anyone, he died young, got killed. I didn’t even get to say goodbye, a couple of moments and the signs of life disappeared from his body.”

“That’s horrible...”

“Yeah, I missed him very much every day of my life.”

“Didn’t you say that it happened many years ago? But he had never shown up before. Why now?”

“He came here to warn me, he said I was in danger.”

“What kind of danger?”

“My enemy. He didn’t say who or when and I have no idea what he was talking about.”

“We are witches, we have a lot of enemies. Why would he warn you? You always beat all of them.”

“He said that it is a very powerful enemy who can destroy me. I can’t imagine anyone so strong to do that. They could beat me... but destroying?”

“I am sure you are more powerful than anyone who wants to harm you, don’t even dare to think otherwise.”

“But what if I am not as strong as I think. I will put you and all of your family in danger, and that is the last thing I want.”

“We will be fine.”

“Since when are you so optimistic?”

“Since I realised that there is a little witch growing inside of me, I suppose. Or maybe it is your influence.”

“No, it is definitely the child. If I think about it, you have really changed. You seem so happy and calm, it suits you.”

“In fact, I still have no idea what to do. But we will figure it out, right?”

“There will be no choice. Have you chosen a name already?”

“I was thinking about Adelyn. What do you think?”

For a moment Morgana thought it sounded familiar, but it didn’t matter.

“It is beautiful, I like it.”

Zelda smiled and put a hand on her belly.

“Adelyn, then.”

Morgana went to her own room, read a book for some time and went to sleep. She struggled falling asleep but then finally did.

The room was quite dark, but it felt somehow different. Morgana walked towards the window of her room and looked at the sky. It wasn’t blue as it should have been, more like a shade of red. She went downstairs to the living room, there she saw her brother again. He whispered so quietly that Morgana could hardly hear him.

“Soon comes the one who will be your undoing...”

“Who? Who is it? Tell me...”

She blinked and her brother was already gone. And the room along with him. She was standing on a meadow, there was a forest around it. Morgana took a quick look around and noticed a shape not far away from herself. It came closer and she figured that it was a woman. She looked old, her clothes were torn and dirty. Morgana didn’t recognise her, but then the stranger said, very slowly:

“You will burn in hell side by side with me...”

Then Morgana woke up in cold sweat. It was the middle of the night but she finally knew what was going on, and she had to tell Zelda about it.

Morgana slammed Zelda’s door open and rushed in. Zelda woke up immediately.

“It is the middle of the night! What the hell are you doing?”

“Sorry, I am really sorry but this is important. I found out who my brother was talking about.”

“How did you find it out?”

“I saw it. In a dream.”

“In a dream? You woke me up because of a dream?”

“Yes, it sounds bad but listen to me. There was a woman in my dream and she said something to me. And I remembered her.”

“Who is she?”

“A long time ago there was a very powerful witch, just like me. But she was insane. She used her powers recklessly, never thought about consequences. She started killing people to resurrect them, killed magical creatures to get magic from them, inflicted a total chaos. I needed to stop her before it was too late. I couldn’t do it on my own, I needed help, and a few days later her sister came to me. She wanted to stop all that madness and told me everything that I needed to know. We imprisoned the witch, I put multiple spells on her cell and gave her little sister a poison strong enough to kill even the most powerful witch.”

“Why didn’t you kill her yourself?”

“I wanted it to stay between them, they were a family after all. Maybe I was just trying to avoid taking a responsibility.”

“So, she is still alive?”

“I think so, yes. Dorothea is still alive. Something must have gone wrong, Adelyn didn’t give her the poison.”

“Adelyn?”

“How did you come up with the name for the baby?”

“I don’t know. I might have heard it somewhere.”

“Not just somewhere. It is Dorothea’s influence.”

“What influence? What are you talking about?”

“I need to leave as soon as possible. I will not let her harm any of you. Hilda will take care of you.”

“You can’t just leave! Where will you go?”

“I don’t know yet. But the most important thing right now is keeping you safe. I will be back as soon as Dorothea is under control.”

“Fine, don’t get killed.”

And then Morgana was gone...


	30. Missing time

Morgana gathered some of her old acquaintances to come up with a plan of how to defeat probably the most dangerous witch in the world. Together they were powerful enough and could attack the enemy. After a lot of effort Dorothea was finally beaten and Morgana could return home.

It was already the beginning of summer and everything was blooming. Morgana took a small walk through the forest instead of teleporting herself immediately into the house. When she got inside the house it seemed very quiet. She thought that maybe the Spellmans had gone somewhere but then the floor screeched and Ambrose appeared.

“Morgana? You are back?”

“Yes, I am back. Where is everyone?”

“Aunt Hilda and Sabrina are out, aunt Zelda is in her room.”

“Is everything all right? What happened when I was away?”

“Nothing much, I mean, no-one tried to kill us all. Things have been pretty quiet.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I must warn you. I think that aunt Zelda will be quite mad at you.”

“Well, I knew it was coming. I will go talk to her.”

“Good luck!”

“Thanks, I will need it.”

Morgana went upstairs and hesitated for a moment before going into Zelda’s room. When she did, she found out that Zelda was still sleeping and decided to wait there until she wakes up.

Morgana didn’t have to wait for long. When Zelda opened her eyes she thiught that it was still a dream. But then she realised that it was not. She sat on her bed and looked at the other witch in disbelief.

“So, you are back?”

“Yes, as you can see.”

“What for hell’s sake took you so long? It’s been almost two months!”

“I am sorry, I couldn’t come back sooner. I had to finish what I started a long time ago.”

“But did it really have to be so long? You could ask someone to help you!”

“I did. But it was a battle almost impossible to win.”

“Did you at least win?”

“Yes, we did, Dorothea is dead. And you are safe.”

“I was worried about you, we all were!”

“I know, I wanted to come back as soon as it was possible, and now I am here.”

“You could have sent us a message, let us know something.”

“It was too dangerous, they could have found you. Look, I am sorry for making you wait, but it will be fine. Right now the most important thing is your health.”

“But don’t think that I will let it go so easy.”

“Sure. But now I need you to calm down and tell me how you are feeling.”

“I am fine. A bit dizzy and tired but in general, everything is fine. Hilda has been looking after me.”

“I will talk to her too. But before she comes home, we have a bit of time for you to tell me what I have missed.”

They talked for a while, Zelda was telling Morgana about Sabrina being annoying, days being boring and other things. Then they heard the front door open and Morgana went downstairs to meet Hilda.

“Hi, Hilda! Missed me?”

“Morgana, nice to see you again. I was starting to think that you had left us for good.”

“It took a bit longer than I expected. But now I am here and you can tell me about Zelda. How is she?”

“Didn’t you talk to her?”

“I did. But you know Zelda, she won’t tell me if something was wrong. I need to hear your professional opinion.”

“Right. Well, her blood pressure is a bit too high and there are some problems with sleeping, but nothing serious. I would say she is fine.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“But you will check everything yourself, right? I am not such a professional as you.”

“I will, of course. Just a bit later, I haven’t slept for days.”

“Sure, go to bed now.”

Morgana slept through the day and woke up when it was getting dark. She decided that there was no point in waiting until the morning to do the checkup, so she went to Zelda’s room.

“I thought we could check your blood pressure and stuff. If you don’t mind.”

“Yes, of course.”

The blood pressure turned out to be almost normal and everything else was fine as well.

“Hilda told me you are not sleeping well.”

“Nothing to be worried about, I am just having nightmares from time to time.”

“What kind of nightmares?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Maybe if you say it out loud it won’t be so scary anymore.”

“It is Faustus. I can’t get him out of my head. Every time I dream that he is alive and is coming for me. I know he is dead but I can’t stop those nightmares.”

“It is all right to be afraid after all he has done to you. Maybe you just need more time.”

“It has already been months since he died. How much more time will it take?”

“I don’t know. Then try to fight him, be stronger than him.”

“How can I do that?”

“Imagine killing him yourself, his dead body. Tell yourself that he is not a threat anymore until you believe it.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“You will have to deal with it.”

The next couple of weeks Zelda tried to do as Morgana had said. At first it seemed useless but after some time it got better. She wasn’t seeing Faustus in her dreams anymore and could sleep well.


	31. There’s no good without pain

As Zelda’s labour was coming closer everyone was a bit nervous except for Morgana. She had been delivering babies for many years and knew exactly what to do, even if something goes wrong. Zelda was spending most of the time in her bedroom and Hilda kept checking an her and asking if she needed something every five minutes. Morgana told Hilda that she would need her assistance, when the time comes. Hilda was a midwife herself but this time was different. It wasn’t a woman that she barely knew, it was her own sister, and she was afraid to screw it up.

One morning Zelda woke up and felt pain in her abdomen. She called for Morgana immediately. In a few seconds her midwife was there and examined her.

“You still have time. It can take hours until the baby is ready to come out.”

Morgana was going to leave but Zelda stopped her.

“Don’t go, stay with me.”

“I need to tell Hilda. She has to be ready. I will be back.”

Zelda nodded and Morgana left. She found Hilda in the kitchen as it was expected.

“Hilda, Zelda is having contractions. Don’t worry, there is still time. I just wanted you to be ready.”

“All right, should I do something?”

“Prepare some towels and make a cup of calming tea.”

“For Zelda?”

“No, for you.”

Morgana went straight back to Zelda’s room.

“Have you had more contractions?”

“No, not yet.”

“Fine, we will have to wait now. I know you are scared, but Hilda and I will be with you, there is no reason to worry.”

“But it will be so painful...”

“Yes, it will. But just for a time, then it will pass.”

Zelda and Morgana spent the day talking about random things such as famous writers, midieval knights. Morgana was telling about her kingdoms and all the power she had, about armies and collection of crowns. Everything to keep Zelda distracted. The contractions were getting longer and the time between them shorter. In the evening her waters finally broke and Morgana asked Hilda to come. Everything was going very slowly, it was past two in the morning when it was time to push.

“I can’t do this, it is so painful, I... I am not strong enough.”

Morgana knew she might say that, they usually did. She felt sorry for Zelda, but there was no other option, it was too late to do anything else.

“Yes, you are. You are one of the strongest people I know. You have to do this for your child’s sake. Just concentrate and it will soon be over.”

Zelda knew that Morgana was right, she had no other choice. She put all her effort into pushing the baby out of her body. When Zelda heard her baby cry out, she was relieved. Morgana let Hilda cut the umbilical core, after that Morgana wrapped the child in a small blanket and gave her to Zelda. 

She looked at the small creature in her arms and couldn’t believe it. After all those years she didn’t think that she would have a child of her own. But there she was, holding her newborn daughter in her arms. She thought it was strange how much she already loved that little girl, she didn’t want to let her go, not ever.

Morgana’s job was finished, so she and Hilda left to give Zelda some time alone with her daughter. Sabrina and Ambrose were still awake and waiting for news. Hilda told them and they were excited to see their new cousin.

After talking to the two of them, Hilda went to the living room where Morgana was already sitting on the sofa.

“I am glad they are both all right. You did a great job, Morgana.”

“With your help, of course. We were lucky that there were no complications. Everything went very smooth. That doesn’t happen so often.”

“You are right.”

“Should we check on them?”

“Go, I will come later.”

Morgana slowly walked inside the room. Adelyn had fallen asleep and was lying next to Zelda. Morgana whispered a spell and a crib appeared.

“You need to rest.”

“I know, I just don’t want to leave her alone.”

“She won’t be alone. We will look after her while you are sleeping.”

“But don’t take your eyes off of her.”

“She will be fine.”

Morgana took the baby very gently and put her in the crib.

Zelda slept for a few hours. All that time Morgana was sitting next to Adelyn’s crib and watched her sleep. She never had a chance to spend much time with babies, so she didn’t know how calming it is to just look at them. She was happy for Zelda, after everything she had been through, there was finally something good in her life. There were many sleepless nights ahead of her, worries about her little daughter. But it seemed worth the efforts.

Zelda immediately checked on the baby when she woke up, and saw that everything was fine.

“She woke up once, but I put her back to sleep.”

“For how long did I sleep?”

“Wasn’t too long. I need to talk to you.”

“What? Did something happen?”

“No, actually, yes. But not like that... Alister and I are getting married.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, he proposed a few days ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Congratulations to you two.”

“You were focused on other things. Anyway, we haven’t arranged anything yet. We haven’t talked about it properly, you know, we are both busy.”

“You should set the date as soon as possible. Don’t hesitate.”

“Fine, fine... but that is not all.”

“What else? Will you move to his house?”

“Eventually, yes. And since I can’t have children, we have been talking about adopting a baby. Not now, of course. Maybe in a couple of years.”

“That’s great. So, he is he right man?”

“Yes, we haven’t been together for that long, but I feel that he is the right one.”

“Who would have thought?”

“I didn’t expect that either. Talking about you, don’t get up for a few more hours and try to get more sleep. When you are fully recovered, you will be able to take care of your daughter, not sooner.”

“I guess you are right.”

Zelda fell asleep again. In her dreams she could see her child and Morgana’s playing together.


End file.
